


Revelations

by LivyatanRex_665



Series: She-Ra: the New Age [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: I really don't know what to put in tags, Lots of Original Characters - Freeform, Multi, originally from fanfiction.net
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:54:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,905
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22860571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivyatanRex_665/pseuds/LivyatanRex_665
Summary: Originally, I posted this on FanFiction.net under my account there (The Monster of Sol). Here was the description I gave there, and there isn't much to add:"The war for Etheria is drawing to a close, for the Horde is closer to victory than ever. However, in the middle of the conflict, Catra receives a mysterious dream - one that could change her life forever. She now sets out on a quest to find out who she really is, and what she finds will have a huge impact on the entire world. Rated T for violence, language, and occasional sex jokes."I have already written several chapters, and I will continue posting them here and on FanFiction.It's a non-canon post-season three fic.
Relationships: Bow/Sea Hawk (She-Ra), Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Kyle/Rogelio (She-Ra), Lonnie/Scorpia (She-Ra), Mermista/Perfuma (She-Ra)
Series: She-Ra: the New Age [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643344
Comments: 16
Kudos: 9





	1. The Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is the start of my first She-Ra fanfic, and my first public fanfic in general. I'm aware the new season is coming out soon, but this is an idea that has been dancing around in my head for quite some time. It will be (I hope) updated daily, though some days I will not update it, and when season 4 is out, I will incorporate characters and arcs from it, even if things that happen here are bound to contradict things that happen there. It's an alternate universe.

_She felt warm. She felt happy. She was wrapped up in a warm, comfortable blanket. Her mother was cradling her in strong, gentle arms. For the first time in a very long time, Catra felt happy._

_Her mother kissed her on the head and smiled a great big smile. "My beautiful baby" she said "My dear little Cyra"._

_But for Catra, no good thing ever lasted, and as soon as those words had escaped her mother's mouth, a whip had struck her. Catra's mother fell down, unconscious… or dead perhaps? Either way, Catra started to cry loud, high-pitched cries. Then, she saw a face._

_The face was that of a handsome young man, who was still somehow hideous. He had pure ivory skin, with peculiar red markings on it. His ears were pointed, and his hair was long and white. His eyes, though, were the worst of all. They were black all around, with tiny yellow dots for pupils. Catra whimpered._

_He opened his mouth impossibly wide, revealing a set of razor-sharp fangs, and swallowed her._

* * *

Catra woke up in a sweat, her heart racing impossibly fast. That had been one of the most terrifying nightmares she ever had, and Catra had a lot. Quite standard for someone who had been abused almost their entire life.

Still, that one felt so… real. It was probably just a reflection that deep down inside, Catra wanted a real family, not one constructed of cruel, abusive sorceresses and unfaithful blonde warriors.

Scorpia told her she needed therapy. Catra had told her to bugger off, but maybe, in hindsight, she should have listened to Scorpia. She did feel a little bad about betraying Entrapta. Not because of Hordak, of course, she couldn't give less of a crap about his feelings, but because of Entrapta.

Entrapta had been very loyal, in her own strange way. She had been helpful, friendly, and honest to Catra. She had been…

Her friend.

Catra quickly shook her head. It was only counterproductive to think such thoughts right now. She got up, changed from her nightclothes to her usual outfit, and headed out.

* * *

The Fright Zone was the same as every other morning - busy, loud, and still kind of eerie. Catra, at this point, had nowhere to go. Hordak had forbidden anyone from entering his sanctum without being requested ever since Entrapta 'betrayed' him, and Scorpia didn't talk to Catra much anymore. Lonnie was never much interested in her, and why would she want to talk to Kyle or Rogelio? Not that Rogelio talked much, of course.

So, she simply wandered around the Fright Zone. Aimlessly. She knew that if there were any problems with the rebellion, one commander or officer would report it to her. And therefore, she could let her mind wander.

However, she bumped into someone while wandering around, into one of the last people she wanted to run into. Scorpia.

"Oh, hey Catra." Scorpia said, trying to sound happy but failing miserably.

Catra nodded "Hi, Scorpia."

Just as Catra tried to walk past, Scorpia grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Catra, we need to talk."

Not wanting to hurt Scorpia more than she already had, Catra nodded and decided to go with her. Scorpia took them to a quiet spot where numerous crates had been stacked. They both sat down there, and Scorpia immediately started talking.

"Catra, you need to tell Hordak the truth about Entrapta."

"Scorpia, we've been over this. It's not that simple!"

Scorpia looked annoyed "Catra, this is for your own good! If you tell him the truth, it's our first step to making this all okay again!"

"Yes. And Hordak, being the understanding, reasonable person he is, will, of course, forgive me and let me make up for it."

"Touche."

Scorpia covered her face with her pincer. Catra reached out to comfort her, but Scorpia simply brushed her away. Catra was at loss. Was this really the same Scorpia she knew? Or was it an impostor?

Scorpia looked back up at Catra, and then said "Catra, I'm not sure if you've caught on yet, but your position is in danger. You know the new force captain, Keldor?"

Catra slowly nodded "I… think?"

"From what I've heard, he's got his eyes on your job. And Hordak has praised his successes numerous times. He was one of the leaders in the conquest of Salineas, which has been the biggest horde victory in ages."

"Oh… _that_ guy. The blue-skinned freak. _He's_ a threat to my position?"

"Yeah. He's been asking about you, waiting for you to slip up. And if he finds anything to discredit you, then it's, well, it's curtains."

"I, um, understand."

"Yup. Just something to consider."

And without another word, Scorpia got up and slowly walked off. Catra frowned. Where was the old Scorpia, who she had met? Where was the Scorpia, who, no matter what happened, made the best of things?

Then it occured to Catra. A painful, tragic revelation. Catra had killed that Scorpia. With years of neglect, anger, and coldness, Catra had killed her.

* * *

Catra got up, seconds after Scorpia had escaped from view. Or was it minutes? Hours? She was so consumed in thought, she didn't keep track of time. And she was decided. She would come clean to Hordak, and tell him about what she did to Entrapta, and beg for mercy.

Or… would she? No, she wouldn't. A tear escaped her eye. She just realized - she was a mess. Everything she ever wanted was gone. Scorpia was no longer friendly and supportive, Entrapta, if she was alive, probably hated her, Hordak no longer held her in high regard and was perhaps considering replacing her, and worst of all, Adora had died before Catra got a chance to talk to her.

It had been during the battle of Salineas, where all the princesses had assembled to deal with the Horde invaders. Catra wasn't there, so she didn't know the full details, but the Horde soldiers had returned reporting that not only had they taken Salineas and captured the royal family, but they had also slain She-Ra. Catra supposed she should have been happy, but she wasn't. She admitted it. She missed Adora. Ever since the portal fiasco, Adora had never pulled her punches as she once had, and Catra had more than enough bruises to prove it.

Catra had once taunted Adora that she would never have the guts to kill her. But… didn't she feel exactly the same?

Catra grinded her teeth. It had probably been Keldor, that blue bastard who now wanted her job, who killed Adora. She would have a word with him later.

But now… she thought back to her dream, wanting to think of something else than just Adora and their now nonexistent friendship. What had it been about? Had those been memories from before she was taken into the Horde? She knew she hadn't been born in the Fright Zone, but…

She never actually cared about that. But that dream, it piqued her interest. Where _did_ she come from? Had that really been her mother? And that sinister face, why had it been so familiar? She didn't know.

But she knew someone who she was certain did know.

* * *

Hordak was working vigorously. It had been his twenty-seventh try today, but he wouldn't stop trying to get the portal machine working again.

He looked at the sword on his desk. The sword of protection, presented to him by Keldor after the 'death' of She-Ra. But Hordak knew better, and so did Keldor. Adora wasn't dead - not quite.

Hordak's eyes darted to the half-alive young woman in the preservatory tank next to him. A slight grin crossed his lips. _You may yet be useful_ he thought, and immediately went back to work.

No matter how many times he tried, he could not get it working again. It had been so much easier with Entrapta.

Entrapta.

Hordak hated her. He absolutely despised her. If the wretched purple-haired witch turned up in the Fright Zone again, he would feed her to one of Vultak's beasts. To abuse his trust like that, to make him feel cared about for the first time in his life, and then betray him - it was unforgivable. If he were to see her again he would -

But would he? Deep down inside, he didn't believe she betrayed him. Perhaps it was Catra who betrayed him and sent Entrapta to beast island to cover it up? Or perhaps it was simply a huge misunderstanding?

It could be, could it? Deep down, he still held onto that hope that something else had happened, and that Entrapta had stayed true to him all along, and that someone had betrayed her, or that the entire thing was just a huge mess-up?

Then he thought of Catra. He hated her - that kind of burning feeling that one gets when someone picks up your life and shatters it into thousands of pieces. He has had thousands of fantasies of killing her in the most painful way possible. He could burn her, or throw her into a pot full of acid, or simply choke her to death. Still, he could not deny that she had her uses, and despite her unorthodox methods, there was barely any failure where she was involved.

And, if she did slip up, he always had a promising replacement in Keldor.

Then he thought of himself. What a mess he had made of himself. Gone was the intimidating, magnificent warlord. Now, looking at himself in the reflection of Adora's preservatory tank, he saw someone who looked more akin to a karool'd addict. His eyes were practically bleeding from lack of sleep. His practical, short hairdo had been turned into a thick black mane of unkempt hair, and his once clean-shaved face had now been hidden by a bushy, unkempt beard. Perhaps he should take a break - get some sleep, shave, maybe take a bath, and generally get some time to think. But no - taking time from important work to do those things was a sign of weakness, as he had been taught by Horde Prime.

A knock on the door. He quickly took a sheet and covered Adora's preservatory tank. Nobody could know what he was planning.

Hordak then rolled his eyes. What could be so important that someone interrupts his work on the portal? "Enter" he groaned.

Catra walked in. Hordak immediately remembered his fantasies of murdering her in the most painful ways possible.

But that would be unprofessional. "Yes, what do you want?" He asked, once again groaning.

She simply said "Lord Hordak. I'm uh, really _sorry_ to disturb you, but I have an important question which may impact my performance with the Horde. It's a personal question."

Hordak simply waited expectantly.

Catra, then all of a sudden losing the sarcastic element to her interactions simply asked "Where did I come from?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so that's the first chapter. Sorry if it felt a bit forced, I'm not so good at starting stories. Expect it to be a bit more smooth from here on out. I am open to both compliments and criticism, but please know that if you like absolutely nothing about my work, there's always the option to not read it.


	2. Arms Deal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's the second chapter. Not much to say, other than enjoy. This one is considerably longer than the first chapter.

"So THAT'S why you interrupted my work? Because all of a sudden, after 25 years of living here, you want to learn where you're from?!"

An unimpressed Catra nodded "Yeah, pretty much."

Hordak sat down and sighed. Well, what could he do? He could have her killed for disobeying direct orders not to disturb him. He could send her to Beast Island so she could share the same fate as Entrapta. Or he could feed her to one of Vultak's animals.

But, what would be the harm in telling her, he thought? He knew where she came from. He could see no reason why her learning of it would drive her to betray him.

"Okay" he sighed "I'll tell you."

She grinned, and decided to sit down on the floor.

"During our first war with the princess alliance, there was one kingdom which stayed neutral. The kingdom of D'riluth was a very reclusive society of felines. Felines such as you. They didn't want to get involved with the war, despite both sides trying their best to recruit them."

Catra tilted her head "Go on."

Hordak nodded slightly and continued "After several years of war, we got a report that a group of raiders was sacking D'riluth. Fearing that the princesses might come and liberate the natives from the raiders and convince them to join the alliance, I sent a division to help defend the kingdom. But when they arrived, every last man, woman, and child had been murdered in cold blood. The houses had been burned down, belongings stolen, and people lay dead in the streets. The Horde division was able to scare the remaining raiders away, but they could find no survivors. Except for an infant, who was still being held in her dead mother's arms. They then brought her - you, back to me, and you were set to be raised by Shadow Weaver, who, in hindsight, did a very lousy job."

Catra snickered "You could say that again. But is that all?"

Hordak looked confused "What do you mean 'is that all?'"

"I mean, is that all? Do you have any idea who did it?"

"No, I wasn't there and didn't get a good look at the situation. If you want further clearance, you would have to talk to Force Captain Mantenna, who was the leader of the division which brought you to me. He may be able to provide further… clearance."

Catra nodded "Okay. Where would said geezer be?"

Hordak rolled his eyes again, and simply said "What do I know? I don't keep track of all this! Now off with you! Ask someone else! Shoo! Shoo!"

Catra scoffed and promptly left the sanctum.

* * *

As she walked out of the sanctum, Catra groaned. What did she expect from that obsessive, constantly pissed-off, reclusive nerd who ruled the Fright Zone? He had no idea how to be even remotely helpful. He was always just tinkering around with his portal machines and his dissection tables and putting that weird sheet on stuff.

That… sheet.

What was he covering with it? What did he want to hide from her and the other horde soldiers?

She let go of the thought. It was probably nothing important.

But what if he _knew_?

He had done it before, intentionally messing with her to find out if she would tell him the truth. This had been when Shadow Weaver escaped. He could be just waiting for the right moment to strike. She still didn't know if his little imp monster had been spying on them and had told Hordak.

Catra again dismissed these thoughts. He had shown no sign of suspicion during their conversation, just clear annoyance with her interruption.

She decided to continue and look for this Mantenna guy who Hordak had mentioned. She could not remember him from anywhere. Perhaps if she had attended force captain orientation, she would know who he is. _In hindsight, I should have attended that_ , she thought.

* * *

After a few hours of looking and asking around, Catra had no luck. Hordak could have at least told her what Mantenna looks like!

But then a force captain walked by. This force captain had an unusually large square-shaped head, strange orb-ish eyes, amazingly large ears, orange skin, and four bluish legs. He looked pretty goofy and hard to take seriously. But if he was a force captain, and had attended force captain orientation, then perhaps he knew Mantenna. So she went up to him and asked:

"Um, hello, Force Captain?"

He answered "Hi…?"

"Do you by any chance know where force captain Mantenna is currently?"

"Um… yes? You're looking at him."

Catra was taken aback. She had imagined a humanoid, like Adora, or a lizard-man, like Rogelio. Not this… weird thing.

"Oh, um, hi! You may not know me, but-"

"I do know you. You're force captain Catra. Second-in-command of the horde."

Catra nodded "Of course. I guess that's not much of a surprise. Heh. But, um, you apparently saved me when I was a baby?"

Mantenna looked at her for a while, then said "Oh, yes. Um, you're the D'riluth kid?"

Catra nodded.

Mantenna nodded slowly and said "So? There's gotta be a catch. You don't seem like the person who would thank me after 25 years of neglecting to do so."

Catra shrugged "Very well then. The reason why I'm looking for you is because I want to know who did it. Who sacked my home? And why did they do it?"

"And why do you wish to learn this?"

"I want to know if they perhaps knew who my parents were. I want to know **why** they sacked D'Riluth." Catra grinned "And depending on how much I like their answers, I will either kill them or I won't."

For the first time, Mantenna smiled. Or was it a smile? She couldn't tell with that bizarre mouth he had. Either way, he said "I do like that plan. Let me see, where is my force captain data pad? Oh - there!"

He picked up a data pad and started messing around with it.

Catra looked at him "Where did you get a 'force captain data pad'?"

"Force captain orientation. Didn't you attend?"

Catra facepalmed. She really should have attended.

After tinkering around a bit with his data pad, Mantenna looked at Catra and said "The leader of the raiders fled before I could get a good look at him. But he had a pal with him. This guy." he handed the data pad to her.

Catra saw a familiar face displayed on it "Tung Lashor."

"Yep. You know him?"

"Yeah."

"Well then, hopefully you know where to find him. He might be the only lead to the guy who led the attack on D'Riluth."

"Uh-huh. Okay. Just a small problem."

"What?"

"He's dead. I killed him."

"Hm. That's why you should never kill people until you can tell if they're useful. Now bye, I have better things to do."

Catra groaned "Wait!"

Mantenna, who was just walking away, turned around and sighed "What?"

"Did Tung Lashor have any friends or associates who we could derive this information from?"

Mantenna rolled his massive eyes "Well, okay". He continued messing around with his data pad, and produced another image on it - this time that of a reddish ophidian with strange yellow eyes.

"Rattlor." he simply said "That's this clown's name. He was partners with Lashor for quite some time, and is now in the arms dealing business. If you want information of Lashor, he's your best bet. Now scram. I'm getting tired of talking to you." and he scuttled off.

Catra scoffed. Deep down inside, she had hoped that the force captain who found her did indeed care for her. But then she remembered - _where was he during her childhood?_ He clearly only saved her to give Hordak a new soldier.

But that wasn't important now. Soon she would learn more about herself, and that, right now, was all that mattered.

* * *

Hordak screamed in agony. A component of his armour, this time one around his neck, had gotten loose and eventually broken. Considering where that was connected, it did hurt quite a damn lot.

He leaned against a table and took deep breaths. Drops of sweat ran down his forehead, and he felt himself slipping out of consciousness, only just holding on.

"Lord Hordak?"

Hordak turned his head to find Catra, who was standing at the door. He scowled at her. "Be gone, you sht-uupid cat."

Catra shook her head "Sorry, no can do."

"Then whY hAve you come hEre? PerhAps to taunt me in my sUffering?" he said, inhaling constantly.

"Nope, not that. I'm here to ask a favour. Could you organize a weapons exchange with a man named Rattlor?"

Hordak got up. He was still breathing heavily, but his answer was clear - "No."

Catra groaned "Come on, man. Just one favour. I'll come back with more weapons to arm our soldiers with, but this is also personal. I promise this is the last thing I'll ask."

Hordak took another deep breath "Somehow, I doubt that very much."

And yet…

And yet he felt as if telling her not to go would be a missed opportunity. He didn't trust her. She was a liar and a cheat, who used trickery to overcome her enemies. If she went on a mission - and if he went with her, he may be able to learn more of her plans and motives. So…

Hordak nodded "You can go. On one condition."

Catra looked at him expectantly.

"I go with you."

* * *

An hour later, Catra was standing next to Hordak in his sanctum. He had called all the force captains together to explain what would happen in his absence. Assembled were Scorpia, who stood in a corner, trying hard not to make eye contact with her; Grizzlor, Octavia, and Leech, who always stuck with each other (they were probably childhood friends); Mantenna, who stood there making funny movements with his feet; the ever-silent rock man, Callix; and Keldor, standing there pulling the same wolfish grin as he always did, and, as usual, he had Flogg, another force captain, close behind him.

Catra looked at Keldor for a moment. She despised him. She hated his smug expression and prideful posture. Sometimes, she wanted to rip his blue face right off.

Then she looked at Hordak. Why did he want to go with her? Was it because he was bored? Was it because he wanted to keep an eye on her? Or was it because he knew of what happened with Entrapta, and was luring her to the Crimson Wastes to kill her or punish her so far from society? Or could it be, just maybe, that he wanted to be her friend? She nearly laughed out loud at how ridiculous that thought was.

Whatever the reasons, Hordak wanted to go with her.

"Force captains!" he shouted, and they all snapped to attention. "As you may or may not know, Force Captain Catra and I are going to an arms deal. In the absence of both me and my second-in-command, I am leaving Force Captain Keldor in charge."

Keldor's grin widened. Catra shot him a dirty look, and his grin immediately subsided, but his 'fear' of Catra was clearly meant to be sarcastic.

Hordak then looked at Keldor. "I trust you will take care of the place?" Keldor nodded, said "Of course, Lord Hordak. I live to serve", and took a bow.

Hordak nodded, and then looked back to the rest of the people in the room. "While we are absent, you all take orders from him and him only. Any who disobey him during this time will be punished in the same way one would be punished if they disobey me."

The meeting didn't take long after that, and the two set off soon afterwards.

* * *

Catra was on a skiff. She stood on the thing as it flew over the Crimson Wastes, and she tried to be as far away as possible from Hordak, who was steering it. She had gotten extremely paranoid around him, and didn't want him to be suspicious. So far, she couldn't tell what he was thinking, though.

She then heard him speak two words: "We're here."

Both of them got off to see Rattlor standing there, along with a few other ophidians. He was dressed in the same outfit as Tung Lashor had been dressed in, just instead of having Lashor's aggressive, prideful demeanor, Rattlor seemed calm and casual. She also noticed that he had a huge rattle at the end of his tail, which seemed to be that that gave him his name.

He smiled when he saw them approaching "Well, well! If it ain't the great Lord Hordak! I must say, I do dig the new look. I love the beard!"

Hordak scoffed, and proceeded to absent-mindedly stroke his beard.

He then looked at Catra, and took her hand to kiss it "And this lovely young lady must be Shadow Weaver. Glad to meet you, miss."

Before he could kiss her hand, Catra yanked it away from under his nose. Hordak went to Rattlor and said "Ah, sorry that I did not introduce you. This is Catra, my new second-in-command. Shadow Weaver proved… too complicated for the position."

Catra looked at Rattlor and silently growled. He seemed to be taken slightly aback by this, but not for long.

"So, let's talk business. I've been producing lots and lots of new weapons for you Hordies to feast your eyes upon. For starters, here's the amazing hand-cannon." He proceeded to arm himself with the cannon. He pressed a button on it, and a shot was fired across the wastes. It went very far, and then exploded, almost causing a sandstorm. He looked back at them and grinned.

Hordak smiled "Indeed, this is quite an interesting - and useful device. I would like to purchase one for myself, if you would permit me?"

Rattlor laughed "I know I can always count on you to give me a good deal! All yours, pal."

Hordak received the cannon with childlike glee.

Rattlor grinned again "Now, for what you're paying me. That would be-"

Hordak looked to Catra "Whatever you came for, now would be a good time to mention it."

Catra nodded and said to Rattlor "Tell me, what do you know about D'Riluth?"

Rattlor looked at her, baffled "That stinking place? Does that even still exist?"

Catra snarled "Okay, let me rephrase that. Your buddy, Tung Lashor, helped some sort of lunatic sack D'Riluth. My home. You have got to know something about that."

Rattlor looked at her, all of the calmness and suavity being gone. "I, well, I - gotta go!" he shouted, and ran away. He then pulled out a concealed blaster and fired a shot at them, clearly to distract them. However, he didn't make it far before Catra tackled him.

"G-get off me, you ugly animal!" he shouted at her, spitting on her face. Catra kept her calm and simply asked him "You just made it very clear that you **do** know something. Tell. Me. What. You. Know."

Rattlor sobbed "I don't know anything! Please, you have go to believe me! They - they'll kill me! You don't understand!"

Catra looked down at him and growled " **Who** will kill you? **Why** would they do that? And **what** do you know?"

Rattlor took a few deep breaths "I, well, I can't tell you what happened."

Catra lost her cool and scratched him across the eye, making him bleed.

"Ow! Okay, okay! Look, I wasn't there. I didn't know the details. But my boss was part of it. He - he told me that they were going to raid D'Riluth, and when I asked him why, he didn't tell. It was after he talked to that elf guy that he decided to do it."

_Elf guy_? Catra remembered the pointy-eared monster from her dream. That couldn't be a coincidence. There had to be truth to her dream.

She looked back to Rattlor "Your boss' name. Now."

Rattlor looked up to her and said "He goes by King Hiss. But don't tell him it was me who told you about that. He'll kill me."

Catra let go of him and said, "Okay. But if you tell anyone about what happened here, or about what I asked you, you'll have a lot more to fear than him killing you."

Rattlor whimpered, got up, and ran away, his fellow mercenaries following close behind him.

* * *

After the remaining ophidians had escape from sight, Hordak turned to Catra. He had been wondering why she wanted to meet with Rattlor, and now he knew.

"Catra, you have been in the Horde for 25 years now. Why are you all of a sudden obsessed with where you come from?"

Catra turned to him "I seriously don't know. I - I've just been through so much and now, after Adora's death, after all our victories against the rebellion, I don't have much of an idea what to do. And then I had this - this - well, it's not important. The important thing is, I want to know where I come from and who I am, really."

Hordak nodded, trying not to snicker at the fact that she still believed Adora was dead, and responded, "Well, it surprises me as much as it does you, but this does not bother me. No, I believe that knowing one's roots is important. Therefore, I will help you find this King Hiss, if that is what you want to do now."

Catra nodded "Yes, it is what I want to do now. And I guess a big guy like you would be useful if we get into any fights. Let's go, I guess." Then she walked over to the skiff without looking back at him.

_Yes, I am going to accompany you_ , he thought, _and now that I saw the way you can lash out, I can only wonder… what did you do to Entrapta?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so what you might notice while reading these is that some of the characters, especially Catra and Scorpia, are acting a bit out of character. The reason for this is, a: admittedly a bit of faulty writing, and b: this takes place 6-7 years after season 3. People have changed. They have all changed significantly in one way or another.
> 
> Yes, this fic will include members of the rebellion, which will appear next chapter.


	3. From Good to Bad to Ugly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's another chapter. I'm still working on how long the individual chapters will be, but I'm going to try to reduce it a bit for the ones I'm planning right now (I've planned a lot of them already).
> 
> When I saw that Tung Lashor was a gang leader in season 3, I thought that maybe it would be cool if the snake men were a criminal empire in this fic, with King Hiss as the 'Jabba-the-Hutt' sort of character behind it all.

It was morning in Salineas, and a beautiful one at that. Force Captain Sundar took a moment to breath in the fresh sea air, which, in the early morning, was always so pure. He slowly walked towards the royal palace, which once belonged to the Salinean royal family, before they were imprisoned by the Horde invaders.

He stretched and yawned as he saw the crowd which had assembled around the palace, all there to see today's event. It was a very important event, of course, for today was the day they said goodbye to all the rebellion warriors who had dared to resist the Horde's attack on Salineas. There were people crying, booing, cheering, laughing - everyone had a different opinion on the Horde and the Rebellion - who was the hero, who was the villain, or were both of them misguided heroes, or both equally terrible villains?

Sundar greeted Dragstor, the headsman. "Greetings! A fine day for this, isn't it?" Dragstor simply rolled his eyes and responded with a "Yeah, sure, whatever."

Sundar simply shrugged. Dragstor wasn't known for his enthusiasm or his sense of duty. Everybody knew that the only real reason Dragstor took the job is because he enjoyed seeing heads rolling.

The prisoners were soon escorted outside of the palace and into the open, Princess Mermista at the forefront. The sounds of the crowd intensified. As Mermista was escorted towards the chopping block, Sundar respectfully greeted her. Maybe Dragstor was a rude barbarian, but he wasn't.

A cry filled the air "You Horde bastards! You should all just die!" but it was cut off by another, louder cry, which said "Death to the princesses! All hail the Horde!" Sundar shook his head. There was always conflict.

So he turned to the Salinean priest next to him, and told him "Give her the last rites." which provoked a huge "Oh, come on!" from Dragstor.

Fortunately for Dragstor, Mermista agreed with him "Ugh, seriously? Not only am I getting my head chopped off, but I also have to listen to a speech about the sea gods before that? Can't we just get this over with?"

Sundar turned to the priest and told him "Princess Mermista can get her wish and be executed without having to listen to her last rites beforehand." Dragstor grinned a devilish grin.

Mermista walked up to the chopping block and put her head sideways on it, so she would have to see the axe. This was it for her. This was the end-

And just like that, Dragstor was frozen solid.

Sundar looked behind Dragstor. Four figures had materialized - one a young man with a bow in hand and a well-kept moustache; one a young woman with shortish, sparkly hair and a Mystacoran staff; the third an older, taller woman with a sinister shadowy aura and a clearly scarred face, and a mouth which was covered by a thin veil; and a girl in her mid-teens, covered in ice armour and wielding ice blades.

The rebellion had come for one of their own. Sundar knew they couldn't possibly be so stupid as to try to combat all the occupying Horde forces, so this was probably just a rescue mission. He ran towards them to attack, but the sinister looking woman simply cast some sort of shadow spell which rendered him immobile.

The sparkly woman, who was probably Princess Glimmer, the rebellion's leader, ran to Mermista and grabbed her. Then she used her powers to teleport not only her and Mermista, but their allies, away too.

Now that the spell was no longer in effect, Sundar was able to get back up. Now that was humiliating. The entire thing had taken just under a minute, and they had lost one of their most valuable prisoners in it.

And, he also needed to defrost Dragstor. Well, just another thing on his to-do list.

* * *

King Hiss was sitting in his office in the Viper Tavern, which he owned. It was a good business, and good fun, meeting so many new people, and being able to make so many new deals, and being able to hire so many mercenaries to do so much dirty work.

It was a good life.

He sat back in his chair for a moment and let out a deep sigh. There was a knock on his door.

"Enter" he said sharply.

A certain green, frilled ophidian walked into the room.

Hiss looked up at him "What is it now, Kobra?"

Kobra Khan took a bow "Visitors, my lord. They have requested an audience with you. Should I let them in?"

"Do I know them?"

"I don't - believe so, my lord."

Hiss' hopes of a relaxed day were, all of a sudden, shattered "Okay, Kobra. Let them in."

Two people entered the office. One was sleek and feline, the other one was large and bulky, and made a clanking sound while walking.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

The younger, female one spoke "Yes. The sacking of D'Riluth. What do you know about it?"

He looked up at her with an entirely straight face "I have no idea what you're talking about." Even though he clearly did.

Her face twisted into a scowl "I know you know something, because I know that it was you who ordered it. Now tell me! Who were you conspiring with? Tell me that, and I may let you live!"

Hiss cackled "Your threats hold no weight with me, child. You might have been able to outmaneuver my lackies, but I am an entirely different matter. Let'ssss have ssssome fun!"

And, like that, he began one of his painful transformation sequences.

* * *

Keldor loved being in charge of the Fright Zone. Deep down inside, he hoped neither Hordak nor Catra would ever return.

Still, he thought, as he sat on the 'throne' (actually a kitchen stool with the horde insignia half-heartedly painted onto it) that Flogg brought him, he was still quite angry that Hordak had forbade him from entering his sanctum. Also, he could tell that Scorpia, the dim-witted half-arachnid, did not trust him.

Well, perhaps she was right not to.

Now along came Flogg, dragging a protesting small blond young man with him. He stopped at Keldor's throne and threw the young man before him.

Flogg then looked at Keldor "Lyle here has something to tell you, sir."

The guy looked up at Flogg and said "Um, my name is Kyle."

"Shaddup, Lyle."

Kyle looked to Keldor "I'm sorry, Force Captain Keldor, sir. I was really hungry, so I stole a few ration bars from Force Captain Flogg. They weren't many! I really was just so hungry…"

Keldor looked to Flogg "Seriously? This is what you're reporting to me? A latrine cleaner steals your rations, and you bring this problem to me? No wonder Hordak's such a grouch! People are constantly harassing him with the least significant of problems! Go take care of this by yourself!"

Kyle smiled "Thanks, Force Captain, sir!"

"Oh, don't thank me, Lyle. Force Captain Flogg is permitted to punish you in any way he wants."

Flogg grinned, and grabbed a protesting, terrified Kyle, and dragged him out of Keldor's 'sanctum'. Keldor sighed.

Maybe being acting leader wasn't so good after all.

* * *

Mermista woke up after a long rest in the Bright Moon guest room. She got up, wiped her eyes, and walked into the war room.

The alliance was having a meeting. Mermista almost laughed at how many seats were empty. Adora, Angella, Micah, and Castaspella had all either vanished or died, while Perfuma was in her kingdom defending it from Horde conquest.

Of the princesses, present were Glimmer, Frosta, Spinnerella, Netossa, Peekablue, Sweet Bee, and the Star Sisters. Along with them were Bow, Swift Wind, Sea Hawk, and Shadow Weaver.

Glimmer turned to Mermista "You should be in bed. You could hardly stand when we saved you. You need to rest."

Mermista scoffed "Well, now I can stand. And I want to know one thing - where are the others? Where are the other rebellion fighters who were going to be executed?"

Glimmer stared at her, wide-eyed "Mermista…"

"You left them behind, didn't you?"

"Mermista, you don't understand! We had to-"

"No! Those were good people, who risked their lives to defend Salineas, and now they're being executed anyway! They deserve **so** much better!"

Glimmer could see that perhaps for the first time ever, Mermista was crying, and answered with "Look, I know. If we could have saved then, we would have. But we couldn't. We needed to save you, the princess. We can't afford to waste resources on trying to storm Salineas!"

Mermista was sobbing now. Under those sobs, she simply said "I… I know" in the smallest voice possible.

She then got up, and weakly cleared her throat. "Glimmer? Where is Perfuma?" she sobbed again "Where is my girlfriend?"

"She's defending her home from the Horde. She wanted to come with us, but her people need their princess. We promised her we would help her as soon as we've gathered our forces. And now we have."

Mermista nodded "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

"Well, we were actually waiting for you to recover, but you seem to have done just fine. So are you ready to help defend Plumeria?"

"Are you kidding? Yes!"

* * *

Catra flew square across the room and nearly got a concussion as she was rammed against a wall. How did this happen? A moment ago, Hiss appeared as a scaly humanoid. Now? He had turned himself into a writhing mass of serpents.

He was either a potent sorcerer or a natural shapechanger. Maybe he was able to change into this form to make himself more snakey? Or maybe this was his true form? She actually didn't care. What she wanted to do now was to show this guy what's what.

Hordak wasn't much help. All he did was throw objects at Hiss, which did nothing more than annoy the monster. She brought him along because he might be useful, but at this point he was the exact opposite of that.

Well, there was nothing to it. She ran towards Hiss again, and jumped on the largest snake head and scratched it. Hiss yowled and shook her off. Then, one of the many snakes which he was composed of reached down to Catra and bit her in the neck. This time it was her who yowled. Hiss then kicked her back across the room, where she landed in a heap.

Hordak stood over her. "This is not good. He has overpowered us. We must flee." he told her sternly. Catra got up and eyed him angrily "Well, I didn't see YOU helping too much!"

"I was helping! I was distracting him so you could attack him!"

"That is a terrible plan! What is **wrong** with you? I thought you were a good tactician!"

"Fine" he sighed. "I have ophidiophobia."

"Offidy-what?"

"Ophidiophobia!"

"What does that mean?!"

He groaned "It means… I'm afraid of snakes."

"It means what?"

"It means… I'm afraid of snakes."

"What?!"

"I'M AFRAID OF SNAKES, DAMMIT!"

Catra looked at him angrily and then said "That could have been useful to know BEFOREHAND!"

"Well, I'm fine with semi-humanoid snakes like Rattlor, but this guy is just a huge mass of snakes! He terrifies me!"

Catra sighed "Well, do you know any ways to get rid of him that don't involve you attacking him?"

Hordak shook his head and began to think.

* * *

Rogelio was drawn to the sound of his boyfriend whimpering. Kyle had a very distinct whimper. He tracked the sound to the men's rooms, where he found something he did not like to see, but unfortunately often did - Kyle being bullied.

Flogg, the ugly purple force captain, was continuously dumping Kyle's head in a full sink. He was clearly enjoying tormenting Kyle. Rogelio cleared his throat.

Flogg then turned his attention to him "What are you looking at, scaly boy?"

Rogelio simply growled.

Flogg chuckled "Oh, so Lyle here is a friend of yours? Well, if you don't want to be doing the same thing he is now, ya better move the hell along."

Rogelio didn't make any response to that. Instead, he simply slugged Flogg across the face.

Flogg wiped away a bit of blood from his nose and grinned "You want to go? Then let's go!"

Rogelio and Flogg exchanged punches. Unfortunately, while Rogelio was fairly strong, Flogg had a lot more training than Rogelio could ever have. At one point, Flogg even punched Rogelio very hard in the stomach, leaving him unbalanced and slightly dizzy, and giving Flogg the advantage over him as he rained punches down on the reptilian.

Rogelio fell down. Flogg had clearly triumphed. And just as he was about to deliver one last punch, he instead reverted his position and shrugged. "You know what, you shrunken dragon? You're not worth my fists. Take shrimpy here and go, or I'll kill you both." he said, and walked away.

Rogelio took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Kyle went to him and hugged him tight. Rogelio then stroked Kyle on the head, and lost consciousness.

Their life had never been easy, he remembered, but as long as they stuck together, nothing truly terrible could happen to them.

* * *

Catra stood over the now humanoid form of Hiss. Hordak's plan to let the snakes get tangled up everywhere, therefore trapping Hiss and forcing him to revert to his humanoid form, had worked almost perfectly. Now, he sat down on the floor, panting.

Catra kneeled down at him and told him in loud, clear words "Now tell me, why did you order the destruction of D'Riluth? And who was the guy who helped you with it?"

Hiss snickered "Well, I guess there's no point in not telling you, right? D'Riluth is home to a very special kind of metal - Mortium. It can enhance magic, create virtually unlimited power cores - there's basically nothing it can't do!

So yes, I did want some of this valuable metal. But did your people choose to share it? No! So I sent raiding parties to D'Riluth, which all returned to me - albeit in pieces. Then, Naglfar came along.

Naglfar was an interesting bloke. Right from the start, one could tell that he wasn't playing with a full deck, if you know what I mean. But he was a potent sorcerer, and he offered to supply my troops with enchantments and magical weapons. That was too sweet an offer for me to resist. So I recruited the lad.

Yes, they raided D'Riluth and stripped the mines of Mortium. But guess what? Naglfar ripped me off. He only wanted an army to get past the kitties. Then, he turned tail, letting my men deal with the kitties and the hordies."

Catra tugged at his collar "And what happened next?"

Hiss grinned "I suppose you know more about that than me… Cyra."

Catra was astounded "What - where did you hear that name?" She was quite surprised, for she had heard that name in her dream - directed at… herself?

"Oh, I heard it in nunya."

Catra rolled her eyes "Oh, as in nunya business? I've heard that one before. But, well, that's not what's important right now. What's important is this - where is this 'Naglfar' guy?"

Hiss' face turned from a grin to a more stern one "I don't know. He turned tail and escaped without telling me where he ran off to. Now will you leave me alone?"

Catra let go of him. She walked out of the office, and once outside, she exhaled deeply.

* * *

A few hours later, Kobra Khan rushed into his boss' office while Hiss was just cleaning up. He was quick to talk.

"My lord, I just saw your guests leave. And now your office is practically destroyed. Are you all right?"

Hiss chuckled "Yes, I'm fine. The two showed me, they did indeed." His face grew darker "Especially the catgirl…"

"Sir, they have to pay for this infraction. I have never known you to let those who attack you and humiliate you live!"

Hiss grinned a terrible, sinister grin "But they won't get away with it. At least she won't. You see, I bit her. The poison now lives within her, and once it spreads, she will have a painful, shameful death. For there is no cure to my poison."

Then, he laughed. It was a terrifying, dark laugh which could make even the strongest of souls shiver.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So! I made this a Merfuma and a Kygelio fic. I'm thinking of introducing many ships, maybe Scorponnie, Bowhawk, and Entrapdak, and others which I will not give away due to spoilers.
> 
> Also, you may notice that most of the original characters so far aren't original, but instead characters from earlier iterations of She-Ra and He-Man. But next chapter will introduce not one, but two original characters, one of which will be the title character of the next chapter.
> 
> Also, maybe leave a comment on this one, I would love to hear feedback.


	4. Anomallo Caris

There was a bizarre commotion this morning in the Fright Zone. Why? Catra and Hordak had returned. Scorpia rushed out to greet them. She was so relieved that they had returned. Keldor had been very… assertive during his time as ruler.

"Lord Hordak! Oh, thank goodness you're back!" she shouted as she ran towards them. When she got to them, she took a moment to catch her breath and laid a hand on Hordak's shoulder.

"It's great that you're back. Seriously, Keldor's a nightmare. He basically let poor Rogelio get beaten up by that great purple bully Flogg! You're so much better at running things. Please, PLEASE put someone else in charge next time you're gone. Keldor-"

Then, she heard someone clear their throat behind her, and turned around to see Keldor. They made eye contact for a while, and Scorpia could swear she died a bit in that moment.

But Keldor didn't even say anything to her, since he probably knew better than to fight his fellow hordesperson before Hordak, and instead bowed before his master.

"Lord Hordak. I am oh so glad you have returned. Things have been very… chaotic." he said, flashing a subtly resentful look at Scorpia, who basically shrunk inside her exoskeleton.

"Ah, but who am I to keep you waiting? Come, I will see you inside, my lord." Keldor continued and escorted Hordak back into the Fright Zone.

Scorpia looked back at Catra, who seemed to be trying to avoid eye contact. Scorpia went up to her and asked "Do you think he suspects anything?"

Catra snapped to attention. "What? Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"Do you think Hordak suspects anything about… you know, the thing?"

"I don't think Hordak really trusts anyone. I think he always suspects someone of something."

"Hm. I guess. But please, just think about what I said."

"Look, Scorpia. I- AAAARGH!"

Catra screamed out in pain, clutching the side of her waist. Scorpia quickly rushed to her side to support her.

"Are you okay!?"

"Ugh… probably. I just fought some sort of giant snake monster. Probably just cramping up. Owww…"

"Okay, that seems like more than just cramping up. I-"

Catra brushed Scorpia aside "Will you leave me alone? I'm fine!"

Her face then relaxed a bit and she managed a weak smile "On a more positive note, Hordak, you know, Lord Hordak the Scary and Mighty, is deathly afraid of snakes."

Scorpia chuckled a bit "What, like you're afraid of mice?"

Catra rolled her eyes in a friendly manner. "Shut up, Scorpia." was all she said before she followed Hordak and Keldor into the Fright Zone interior.

Scorpia looked at Catra. She suspected that maybe Catra's pain was caused by more than just cramping.

* * *

The battle for Plumeria was not going well for the alliance. The Horde had bulldozed its way into the small kingdom, and the rebellion forces were surrounded by Horde soldiers and robots. Glimmer had to think of a plan. And fast. Next to her was Starla, the oldest of the star sisters, and Shadow Weaver, whose power was only half of what it once was. They needed a plan.

But Starla clearly disagreed with that fact, and stepped out into the open. Wielding her cosmic staff, she summoned blasts from the heavens themselves. The horde forces were leveled, and many soldiers were knocked off their feet as their tanks tipped over. "You see?" she shouted "You see? We are not beaten! We are not broken! Come to fight us, Horde filth, and taste our wrath! We will face every last one of you until - SHIT!" she shouted as the cosmic staff was blasted out of her hand by a Horde soldier, nearly taking her hand with it.

Even if Starla had now been rendered mostly powerless with nothing to channel her runestone power, the Horde lines were temporarily broken, which Glimmer and Shadow Weaver took full advantage of. Combining their powers, they were able to blow members of the Horde off their feet again. Soon, they caught sight of Bow, Frosta, and Mermista.

Mermista was going full rage on the Horde. Ever since she learned that they took her girlfriend, Perfuma, hostage she fought mercilessly against them, every time asking "WHERE. IS. PERFUMA?" which none of the terrified Horde soldiers could bring themselves to answer. Glimmer sighed. This was so different from the usual sarcastic, cautious Mermista. It only proved that love could turn even her into a raging warrior.

* * *

Where was Perfuma? She was being held hostage in a Horde camp. Her hands were bound, and these makeshift cuffs were, in turn, tied to a tree. Usually, she could free herself with the tree, but the Horde scientists were tinkering with the heart blossom, disrupting her powers. And she was very worried. Hopefully, her friends had at least saved Mermista, her one true love. And hopefully, they were coming to save her soon.

Soon, she noticed that every Horde soldier snapped to attention. A bizarre looking rock-man had appeared. He walked through the camp, ignoring most everybody until he came to one of the Horde lieutenants. The lieutenant immediately saluted "Force Captain Callix, sir! I did not expect you to be here so soon!"

The rock-man, whose name was apparently Callix slowly nodded, and responded in a very deep, monotonous voice "At ease, Lieutenant Qeed. How's the battle going right now?"

Qeed grinned "Quite good, actually, sir. As you planned, we have lured numerous princesses into the battle. When will it be time to snap the trap?"

Callix nodded again "When I say so, Lieutenant. We need to get the princesses into the same place at the same time, which is easier said than done, to say the least. Which princesses have you caught sight of so far?"

"We do believe that Queen Glimmer herself is present. One of the Star Sisters has also shown herself. We have also seen the icy one and the mermaid, and there are reports of the one that tosses nets somewhere else on the battlefield, though we haven't seen much of her."

_The mermaid!_ Thought Perfuma. So they had saved Mermista! Now, she knew what she had to do. She had to distract Callix long enough for the others to break the Horde lines and save her people before the Horde could spring whatever trap they had.

"Hey! Hey you!" She shouted at Callix.

Callix turned around and looked at her expectantly.

"Are you in charge here?"

"Yes."

"Well then, how about we talk this out? If you left my lands peacefully, I could give you a nice big bouquet. How would you like that?"

Callix kept an entirely straight face "Apologies, but Lord Hordak has tasked me with showing you and your kingdom of mentally deranged hippies what's what, and I intend to fulfill said task."

"But-"

Callix was no longer listening to her. Her attempt had failed miserably. He instead walked towards Qeed, who he addressed.

"Lieutenant Qeed, down to the next line of business. Deploy the Multi-Bots."

"But sir, those are only prototypes. Are you sure about this?"

"The only way we would be able to improve upon their current design would be if Modulok were here, and unfortunately, the two-heaed bastard betrayed us and was sent to Beast Island. So we make do with what we have. Deploy them. Now."

Perfuma sighed. She had failed her friends. Hopefully they would be okay…

* * *

"...and it's very clear that Keldor wants your job. Seriously, the time he was in charge was dreadful. You should have a talk with him, and tell him who's boss."

"Who's boss. Uh-huh. Will do." Catra was saying while entering her quarters. Scorpia had been blabbing about how much Keldor sucked ever since they re-entered the Fright Zone. But Catra had other concerns.

"Hey, um, Scorpia. Could I borrow your data pad?"

"Course. Here." she handed Catra the data pad and left.

Catra then proceeded to type N-A-G-L-F-A-R into the file search engine and started researching.

There were numerous interesting results. One of them suggested that Naglfar is a mythical demon warrior who sails on a ship made of fingernails and toenails, and his arrival foretells the end of the world. This was unlikely the Naglfar Hiss was talking about. The Naglfar who destroyed her home probably just named himself after that Naglfar.

But there was one file - one very interesting one. It was also possibly the only record of the Naglfar she wanted to learn of in the Horde's database.

The file was entitled 'The Dryl Atrocity'. She pressed on it, and read a tale which sent shivers down her spine. Apparently, a medium-size town in Dryl by the name of Scrue'drivur was the victim of an unprovoked attack by thousands of angry raiders. But these raiders didn't steal or destroy, they simply marched into houses and murdered people for no reason. Their leader? A certain psychopath who called himself Naglfar the Orphan-Maker. The entire thing got so bad that in the end, the Rebellion and the Horde organized a cease-fire to provide humanitarian support for the oh-so few survivors. It truly was a day of terror for all of Etheria. And the worst thing? Naglfar was nowhere to be found.

Catra wondered how Entrapta had reacted to this.

Unfortunately, apart from one interesting and quite disturbing file, there wasn't much she could find.

* * *

Bow was panicking. It was not going well for the rebellion fighters ever since these weird disassembling and reassembling robots had entered the fray. What were they? He recognised the technology somewhere. Of course! These could only be the work of Galen Nycroft from the Etherian maker's guild! What had become of the old bloke?

Had he joined the Horde?

That didn't matter now! He needed to continue shooting arrows at these things, or they wouldn't get anywhere?

But… again, they weren't getting anywhere anyway. These things just kept on repairing themselves. A blast was fired from near him. Someone screamed. He quickly dodged behind the nearest rock, where Shadow Weaver also happened to be hiding.

"This is going from bad to worse." he simply said.

"You don't say. I was thinking - perhaps we could find a way to hack into these robots and turn them against the Horde. Can you do something like that?"

Bow shrugged "No. If we had Entrapta with us-"

Then he realized that perhaps Shadow Weaver was grinning under her veil "I - I actually do believe I know a guy."

* * *

Mermista was angry as hell. Using her trident and water-controlling powers, she bulldozed through the terrified Horde soldiers. She would find Perfuma, no matter how much the Horde tried to stop her. But it didn't do much. Most of them, especially those pesky robots, kept coming back after dodging her water blasts. She was quite angry, but she knew they needed a plan to defeat the Horde.

Then she heard Bow's voice "Mermista! Come here! Shadow Weaver thinks she knows someone who can help us!"

Mermista retreated to the same safe place Bow found himself at. Shadow Weaver and Glimmer were also there.

Glimmer looked to Shadow Weaver "Okay, SW. This guy you know - who is he, and where can we find him?"

"His name is Anomallo Caris. He-"

Bow squealed "Anomallo Caris? I heard about him in the Etherian makers guild! He's one of the best inventors on the planet, and a first rate hacker!"

Shadow Weaver nodded "He works for the highest bidder only. I once worked with him during my time in the Horde. He helped us greatly during the battle of Vaati fields."

"Oh, I heard about that battle! Apparently, it was the deciding battle where the first Princess Alliance was destroyed. He must have been really good at what he does!" said Glimmer.

Shadow Weaver nodded "He is indeed. He might possibly be the biggest tech master on the planet. He could make these robots turn on the Horde. I could take you to his residence, if you wish."

Glimmer nodded "Okay then. Mermista, Shadow Weaver, you're with me. Bow, you stay here and help Starla, Frosta, and Netossa."

"Good luck, then." said Bow.

"Likewise."

And they teleported away.

* * *

Anomallo Caris' chambers were cold and foul-smelling. Glimmer had been in far more pleasant places in her life. However, from the state of his workshop, the cold efficiency with which he worked was clear.

"So, where is this Animal Care guy?" asked Mermista.

"Anomallo Caris" answered Shadow Weaver "and no, I have no idea where he is. He tends to fly around the place in that hard-to-get-used-to floating chair of his."

"Floating chairs. Yaaay."

Glimmer turned around. She just remembered that she was the leader, and she needed to be calling the shots here. So she turned to them and said "Okay. We'll split up here looking for him. If one of us does find him, we need a signal to tell the others that we found him. How about the one who found him shout 'Anomallo!' And the others shout back 'Caris!'?"

"...or we could just shout 'Hey, I found him! Come here!'" Suggested Mermista.

"Yeah, that could work too."

* * *

An hour later and they were going nowhere. Glimmer truly wondered if the time spent here was really worth the deaths of their soldiers on the field.

This Anomallo Caris was either extremely elusive, excessively good at hiding, not there, or dead. If he even existed in the first place - she still didn't entirely trust Shadow Weaver.

But then, Mermista screamed. Glimmer quickly rushed to her location to find her down on the floor.

Luckily, Mermista got up soon after regaining balance. She was not happy.

"Goddamn squid-faced thing nearly ran me over with that floating chair!" She shouted.

Glimmer responded with "So, you found him?"

"Well, CLEARLY, yeah!"

"Where did he go?"

"Into that chamber I was about to check in."

Glimmer didn't say anything, she simply opened the chamber doors to find a bizarre, semi-humanoid, dwarfish cephalopod sat on a floating chair.

"Um, hello?" said Glimmer.

The creature turned its chair around and looked to Glimmer "Oh, greetings. I didn't see you coming in! How rude of me not to welcome visitors. Come, make yourself at home!"

Glimmer sat down on a nearby chair "So, um, Mr. Caris. Do you know who I am?"

"Um, nope. Sorry, but I can't help you with your identity crisis. You'll have to find out who you are from someone else."

"That's not what I meant! No matter, the point is this - we need your help. Shadow Weaver told us you're the best of the best when it comes to hacking."

"Oh, Shadow Weaver! How's ol' Beatrix doing? Is she holding up okay?"

Beatrix? Of course. Glimmer should have known her real name wasn't Shadow Weaver or Light Spinner "You know her name? I mean, she told us she knew you, but…"

"Oh yeah, me and her go way back. We went to Mystacor academy together. She was even my date for the graduation ball!"

Glimmer rolled her eyes and snickered. Why was it so easy to imagine that Shadow Weaver went on a date with a squid? "So, you're a sorcerer?"

"Well, I was supposed to be. But not everyone who has sorcerer parents is born with the gift. So I became something even better - a scientist!"

Mermista interjected "Okay, this is all very interesting, but can we please get on with it?"

Caris nodded "Of course. What would you want me to hack?"

Glimmer responded "Tell me, could you hack a Horde Multi-Bot?"

"Hmmm… Multi-Bots."

Caris produced a keyboard and typed a few letters in, and all of a sudden, a projection appeared with a diagram of a Multi-Bot.

"Ah! Multi-Bots! State of the art Horde tech. Invented by Galen 'Modulok' Nycroft. Buddy of mine from the makers' guild."

"Can you hack them?"

"Sure. Now let me work my magic."

* * *

Frosta jumped as a blast was fired near her. Ever since Glimmer, Mermista, and Shadow Weaver had left, the battle had started going even worse than it was before. The field was lost. They were going to die. That reality dawned on her as soon-

But wait. Those bothersome Horde bots had stopped attacking. And all of a sudden, they started attacking again, but instead of attacking the rebellion, they were attacking the terrified, fleeing Horde soldiers!

Those three had clearly completed their mission.

Frosta felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around. It was the rocklike force captain, who did not look very happy.

"If I am to perish now, so will you!" he shouted as he lifted an axe over her-

And he was trapped under a net. Netossa, who was standing on a hill above the two, saluted Frosta, and Frosta saluted back.

They had won!

Plumeria was free!

* * *

The Horde camp had been abandoned, but Perfuma was still tied up. She struggled, but no matter what, she could not get free.

All of a sudden, a burst of sparkles appeared. Glimmer and Mermista had arrived. Quickly, Mermista untied her, and Perfuma jumped into her arms and embraced her in a great big hug.

And then they kissed.

"Misty! You came for me!"

Mermista smiled "Well, 'course. I couldn't let my beautiful girlfriend be imprisoned by the Horde, could I?"

Behind them, Glimmer was smiling widely.

Soon afterwards, they walked back onto the field, where the Rebellion soldiers and Plumerians were cheering for them. They had won the day!

But deep inside their minds, they knew that this was a relatively small victory. There were far more dangerous battles to come…

* * *

In deep space, the Horde Portal Vessel _Eminence_ sailed through the empty blackness. Hordus, the ship's captain, commanded an entire crew full of people who looked identical to him. Of course, some of them had different hairstyles, some of them had facial hair while others did not, some of them had battle scars, and the ages differed, but they all came from the same genetic template.

Hordus himself was a large specimen, one of the first clones. Both his head and face were clean-shaved, and a pretty nasty scar covered his left eye. He was proud of his scars and of his age, for they gave him authority over the rest of his brothers.

Lieutenant Hordoch, a younger, scrawnier specimen, ran over to Hordus and said "Brother, sir! You have a visitor. He wants to see you now."

Hordus groaned "Now? Can you tell him to wait?"

"No, he cannot" said a deep, sinister voice from behind Hordus. Hordus turned around to see the oldest brother before him. The emperor. The god. Horde Prime.

Hordus quickly knelt, as did every other crew member.

"Rise, Hordus." said Prime.

Hordus did as he asked. Usually, when Prime ordered someone to 'rise', it didn't mean anything good, but Hordus as a good soldier, and a good soldier follows orders.

"Why isn't the portal operational yet? I told you I wanted to be in Etheria by today!"

"My Emperor, Etheria is in Despondos. It's impossible to open a portal to ther- AAACK!"

Hordus was effortlessly lifted into the air and strangled by Prime. Soon, he started to run out of air, and then had his neck cracked.

Hordus, now dead, landed in a heap on the floor.

"Do not ever tell me something is impossible."

Hordoch shivered as Prime turned to him.

"Hordoch, is it? You are promoted to captain of this vessel. Get the portal operational now. I don't care what the cost!"

Hordoch quickly nodded and shouted "You heard the Emperor! Activate the portal!"

The portal began to appear. Prime grinned and cackled.

_Soon,_ he thought. _Soon, I will be home again_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I promised two new major original characters in this chapter. While I technically introduced four (Caris, Qeed, Hordus, Hordoch), the second one I wanted to introduce here was none of those. I will introduce her next chapter - I decided she would fit in better there. I moved a lot of things I wnated to have in this chapter to next chapter.
> 
> Stay tuned!


	5. Tensions and Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! This one is just numerous happenings around the Fright Zone, but the story will progress quite a bit.

Hordak was working, as usual. After his mission with Catra, he had time to get himself together, and had cut his hair back to the more practical, short style. He had taken a liking to his beard, though, and had merely trimmed it a bit so it would stop that infernal sweating.

His mission with Catra had not been a success. As far as she knew, sure it had been. But not for him. He had no idea if she was planning something or not.

Was she plotting against him? Had she betrayed Entrapta? He had no idea.

He smiled. If either of those things were true, he now had a weapon which could easily dispose of her.

* * *

Catra was wandering again. And she was thinking. She was thinking about how, in all seven hells, could she find Naglfar? There was nothing on him. NOTHING! And it was making her entire life quite damn complicated!

Then, someone walked by, and simply said "Oh, hi Catra!"

Catra looked at the speaker. It was a short brown-haired young woman, around her age. Catra smiled awkwardly. She had no idea who this was.

"Oh, hi, um…"

"Lindesay, your old best pal! You might not recognise me, we both got quite a bit older since we last saw each other!"

"Oh… yeah… you…"

Truthfully, Catra didn't only not recognise Lindesay, but also had not the faintest idea who she was. But the woman just kept on blabbing.

"Yeah, me! Oh, seriously, I missed talking to you so much! Remember the old days? Just you, me, and Adora. Oh, those were the days! Remember when we poured a bucket of cold water on Shadow Weaver's head while she was sleeping and then had to do a week of sewer duty? Ohh, that was nasty. But the prank was worth it!"

"Oh, yes… I, uh, remember that. Um, yeah."

"...Aaaand you forgot me, right?"

"Wha- of course I didn- all right, I forgot you."

"Ugh, seriously? Why does nobody remember me? Even Hordak, who took me in as his own daughter (or, well, maybe he did that with all of us in a weird kinda way) doesn't remember me! The only person who does remember me is my brother, Keldor!"

Catra was confused "Keldor… your brother? Then why is he blue, and you're not?"

Lindesay smiled "Oh, why is he blue and I'm not? Well, I've always been able to derive more pleasure from life."

"That's not what I meant with 'blue' and you know it."

"Yeah, we're half-siblings. Both my parents were humanoid, but I only shared a dad with him. His mother was, well, we don't know what she was. But enough of that! Why don't you remember me?!"

Catra shrugged "No idea. Jog my memory?"

"Yes! Back in the day, you, me and Adora were the best of friends! We played together! Trained together! Did… stuff together! And now you forgot me!"

"Um… yes. And I don't know why I forgot you? So, I'm sorry?"

"Oh, it's fine. Hey, how about we talk for a bit! Talking is always nice. I love talking."

Needless to say, the following conversation took hours.

* * *

Scorpia was in a deep blue funk. She was depressed. Down in the dumps. She had tried to help her friends. But it seemed that no matter what she did, it was never enough. She felt underappreciated. It shamed her to even think that, but she did feel underappreciated. She was sitting on a crate when someone sat down next to her.

Scorpia looked to the person next to her. It was Lonnie. She was looking at Scorpia and smiling. Scorpia took a second to examine her smile. It was happy, wondrous, and… lovestruck?

She was taken somewhat aback by this.

"Oh, hi, Lonnie."

Lonnie smiled wider "Hi, Scorpia!"

"Can I help you?"

"Actually more of a question of how I can help you. You seem pretty depressed."

"Well, uh, can I speak my woes to you?"

"Course."

"Thing is, everything is falling apart. And I feel like they need me, y'know? Catra. Hordak. Kyle. Rogelio. Maybe even that asshat Keldor. And you, I guess."

Lonnie put her hand on Scorpia's claw "Look, Scorpia. These people - they might need your help, but it's not always your responsibility to help them. You're the friendliest person I know, and you're always there for the people you care about, no matter how much they drive you away. Just… stay true to yourself, and do what your heart tells you. That's all you can do. Nothing more."

Scorpia managed a weak smile "Thanks, Lonnie. I- mmmf!"

She was cut short by Lonnie kissing her on the lips, very passionately.

After the kiss, Lonnie looked down onto the floor "Wow… wow… sorry. I couldn't hold that in anymore. It's just-"

Scorpia looked down at Lonnie "Go on."

"It's just that when I first met you, I thought you were an idiot. But then, after getting to know you better, I realised just how special you are, Scorpia. Not only are you incredibly nice - to everyone, you're also beautiful, funny, and generally just a wonderful person to be around. And I guess that's how I fell in love with you."

Scorpia evaluated her feelings. How did she feel for Lonnie? She loved her, yes, just as she had loved Catra when they first met.

But this was no simple crush. Here, she saw someone who was devoted to her. And she wanted to be devoted to them.

"Lonnie?" she asked. "Could you… could you kiss me again?"

Lonnie nodded, and kissed Scorpia on the lips again. But this time, Scorpia kissed back.

And so she did again,

And again,

And again,

And again,

And again,

Until the two had fallen deep into an abyss of kisses and passion.

* * *

Keldor was humming. It was a tuneless song, but he did it because he was happy. And he was hungry. That too, but it had nothing to do with the fact that he was humming.

No, he was humming because he had found a way to considerably boost his status in the Horde. But, as he was humming, Catra walked into his quarters. She was his superior, and he hated her.

"Keldor! I have a few questions to ask you!"

He silently groaned and sat down "Shoot."

"You do know that I have suspicions that you are plotting against me and Lord Hordak, don't you?"

"Ah, so that explains your undignified behaviour. You believe I am a traitor. No. Hordak is the closest I have ever had to a true father, and I would not hesitate to betray you if he ordered me to.

But am I actively plotting against you? No, I am not foolish enough to do so right now, at least."

"So you're actively admitting that if you could plot against me, you would?"

"Welcome to politics."

Catra snorted. What more could she say?

"And oh, I met your sister." She said.

He looked at her weirdly "I thought you met her 20 years ago."

"And we talked, and…"

"Oh no, you stay away from my sister!"

"Okay, don't go all 'overprotective big brother' on me! I'm not going to hurt her, and I'm not going to hit on her!"

"I meant for your own good. Seriously, if you get sucked into her madness, you can never get out. And I can't be an overprotective big brother, because she's 2 years older than me."

"Okay. I seem to have talked myself into a lot of corners. Dismissed."

Then, realizing it was her who had intruded, she stomped out.

Keldor smiled. She was on to him.

_But I know your dirty secret, my friend,_ he thought, _and it will be wonderful to see you squirm when I tell Hordak._

Then, he giggled nastily, and went back to humming.

* * *

Hordak sat on his throne. At this point, he was so tired that he didn't really care about the teachings of Horde Prime. But then someone ran in. It was a frog-person. One by the name of Qeed, he believed?

Qeed knelt on the floor "My lord, Plumeria is lost! Force Captain Callix has been captured! The alliance has won!"

Hordak smiled. He had created his new weapon for numerous reasons, and this was definitely one of them.

He snapped his fingers.

A young woman stepped out of the shadows.

"You called for me, Lord Hordak?"

"Yes." He looked to Qeed "Alright, _Force Captain_ Qeed. This is your new partner. Let's see how well you work together."

The young woman stepped entirely out of the shadows. She was dressed in armour similar to Hordak's own, and wore a helmet resembling his face. But when she removed the helmet, it revealed a face all too familiar, but with an expression, a grin, all too alien.

* * *

Bow was woken up in the middle of the night by Swift Wind making agitated horse noises.

Bow ran outside to where Swift Wind was.

"What's the deal?! You probably just woke the whole castle!"

"Adora's alive, Bow! She's alive, but she's not the way she should be! I felt it!"

"Look, man. We all want to believe that Adora is somehow alive. But we saw her die with our own two eyes! I'm really sorry, Swifty, but that's what happened."

"But-"

Bow thought for a moment. He had seen Adora be stabbed through the throat by that one blue-skinned Horde captain. She was dead. She couldn't be alive.

Could she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I never intended for Qeed to be a major character. But here he got promoted! And also, expect to see Lindesay much more, now that Catra and Kedlor's rivalry is full-fledged, and Keldor has the upper hand, she will definitely have something to say (as always).
> 
> Also, I'm a huge Scorponnie fan. Don't kill this for me.


	6. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this one's going to be quite short, since it's just an interlude meant to foreshadow future events. You will learn important things here, though, or at least get hints of them.

In the middle of the night, a not so well put together ship departed Beast Island, and on board it were the two brilliant engineers who had made it. One of them had one head with a lot of hair, and the other had two heads but no hair.

* * *

Edvard rode his carriage while trying not to doze off. It had been a long day, and a royal messenger such as himself usually had a lot of work to do. He was going to give a message to queen Glimmer about bad news on the Thaymor front. But until then, there wasn't much to do. And he could sit back on his carriage and lie around.

...Aaaand he thought too soon. On the road were three individuals, all armed to the teeth. The leader was the most striking, though - he was clearly elvish by nature, but had pale ivory skin, with long white hair and red markings on his face. His legs were bizarre, because even though he seemed elvish, his legs were entirely scaly and saurian. Edvard got out of of the carriage, arms raised.

"Is this a robbery?"

One of them laughed "No, we're just a buncha peace-lovin' hippies who happen to be strolling around here with our weapons."

The leader looked to Edvard "Now, how about we do this the easy way. You hand over the goods, and we leave you be."

Edvard took out his purse and and handed it over to the raiders. Their leader grinned.

"See now, that wasn't so hard! Tell me, what do you do for a living?"

Edvard was terrified. He stammered "I-I'm a royal messenger. For Bright Moon."

The bandit leader smiled "Ah, of course. Go now. You are free to go."

Edvard felt relief welling up in his stomach. He turned back to the carriage, exhaled, deeply, and…

Stumbled and fell. The bandit leader hand kicked him really hard in the back. He felt two blades stabbing into his chest.

He turned over, and through two tear-bled eyes, looked at the bandit leader. The leader only grinned.

"I have a message for your queen" he said "Tell her the reavers are coming."

* * *

And, deep inside the cove of Xhurthos, Jalzigar sat. He was blind and deaf, but it didn't matter, for he could see and hear things others could not.

Or perhaps he was dead. Or simply mad. Well, who keeps track of these things? He asked himself.

"Dagon. Ulthar." he muttered. Tentacles appeared from the dark water.

"Mnomquah. Cthulhu." he muttered. The tentacles reached for him.

"Yog-Sothoth. Azathoth." he muttered. The tentacles enveloped him.

And yet he kept babbling.

* * *

Lance was woken up by a strange noise. He looked next to him. His husband, George, was still sound asleep, so he tiptoed into the library.

There he saw something which chilled him to the bone.

The elemental, which they had kept, was destroyed.

And the runestone shard was missing…

* * *

Madame Razz hummed as she dusted. Today was a big day. Or wait, was that yesterday? Either way, she didn't care. She enjoyed her peace. And she enjoyed reminiscing on her younger years.

When she was just a young twigget, the Eternians arrived on her planet. She fell in love with Mara, one of the Eternians' own, and became close friends with Annilis, Mara's brother-in-arms. Soon, Mara had been chosen as the next She-Ra, and the three formed 'The Alliance of Ultimate Acquaintances". But soon, it went wrong.

Annilis - poor, misguided Annilis switched sides and battled his former friends. He became consumed with rage and lust for power. And Mara had to take away the stars to stop him from destroying everything he once loved.

Razz looked up to the sky and wiped her eyes.

Now, the stars had returned.

And Annilis had returned with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, really short. My original plan was that Entrapta and Modulok appear out of nowhere eventually, but I decided that I would least give a hint to their escape from Beast Island beforehand. I had planned on putting all these things in other chapters, but then I thought, why not make an interlude chapter? So that's what I did.


	7. Despara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You might notice that the chapters are getting shorter. This is entirely intentional, because I a. have other stuff to do, and b. there isn't so much to write in every chapter anymore. So this is the average length from now on.

Glimmer was sleeping soundly. She was having lovely dreams, of her family, her friends, of times without the Horde, of peace, when - "GLIMMER!"

It was Bow's voice. She woke up instantly, and ran towards the door, and opened it. Bow walked in.

"Glimmer, you've got to see this!"

They ran outside, where numerous different alliance members waited. Bow pointed to the sky. Glimmer saw the tiny shining lights in it - what were they called again?

"They're the things your dads and Adora talked about! What were they? Stars!"

"Yep. Why do you figure they're back?"

"I don't know?"

"Yeah, but I think it has something to do with those, don't you?" Mermista said, pointing to the giant fleet of Horde dreadnoughts which suddenly appeared.

One word escaped Glimmer's lips: "Shite."

* * *

Keldor walked into Hordak's sanctum. It was time, he decided, to tell Hordak what he knew about Catra. About how she had betrayed Entrapta, and, by extension, Hordak.

Needless to say, when Hordak heard, he was furious.

"WHAT? So she has been manipulating me this entire time? Damn that bitch to the deepest pits of Oblivion!"

Keldor nodded "Yes, my lord. I believe that she may be trying to overthrow you. So, what are we to do about it?"

Hordak pounded on one of his arm-rests "This shall not stand. I will order Catra to be killed immediately. And, I have found the perfect new second-in-command. Loyal. Powerful. Fierce. They have all the qualities a Horde commander needs."

Keldor grinned.

"Despara, come forth."

A young woman dressed in full armour stepped out of the shadows and knelt before Hordak.

"Yes, my lord?"

"Despara, you are now my second in command. I trust you and Qeed will serve me well. Now, your first line of business is to find and kill Catra."

Keldor's grin disappeared. He had hoped he was the new second-in-command.

Despara took a quick bow "It shall be done, my lord."

She left the room.

Keldor looked at Hordak "How can you be sure she won't betray you, too?"

Hordak grinned "She will not, for I have programmed her to be completely loyal."

Keldor looked to the floor. He now knew who this 'Despara' really was. And he knew what Hordak did with her.

* * *

Catra was trying to go to sleep, but she just couldn't bring herself to. There was too much to think about. Too much in her head. She looked to the side of her bed, where shoddily-drawn pictures of Adora's and her faces were drawn, now covered in scratches. She sobbed. She really did miss Adora, didn't she?

A shadow approached her. It was Hordak's shadow. One problem - Hordak never visited the barracks.

She looked up. No, it was a woman - clearly smaller and younger than Hordak, wearing a helmet that made her resemble Hordak. The armour she wore also resembled Hordak's armour.

"What do you want?" asked Catra.

"Catra. It is time to pay for your betrayal. You will die now."

Catra, not wasting any time, immediately tried to jump onto the newcomer. The woman, however, simply punched her in the guts and proceeded to kick her in an… uncomfortable spot. Catra retaliated, scratching the helmet, which caused the newcomer to lose her balance a bit - but only a bit. She soon looked up at Catra.

"You cannot escape me. You are only forestalling the inevitable. I am Despara, chosen daughter of the Horde, and I will see you dead."

"Yeah, whatever." said Catra, kicking at Despara. But Despara was ready this time, and quickly grabbed Catra by the foot and let go, knocking her down entirely.

She then stepped on Catra's stomach, which, with her metal boots, hurt more than a little. She took two batons out from their scabbards and combined them to make an energy staff. Then she held it to Catra's throat…

Hordak was standing next to the shuttle he would take to Best Island when Keldor approached him.

"My lord, where are you going?"

Hordak looked to Keldor "I am heading to Beast Island to retrieve Entrapta."

"But my lord, Beast Island is full of scorned Horde soldiers who despise you, not to mention tons of monsters. Perhaps it would be better if I-"

"NO! I failed Entrapta. I shall not do so again. You will stay here. You will take your orders from Despara. She is in charge until I leave. Do not question me!"

With that, Hordak entered his shuttle and flew off with it. Keldor sighed. A few days ago, he had been Hordak's favourite. Now, he only had eyes for Despara. If he were to become leader of the Horde, he would have to go about it differently.

Like killing Despara. And Hordak.

* * *

Catra quickly knocked the staff out of the way and tried to slip away from under Despara's boots. She succeeded, which temporarily knocked Despara off balance. But not for long, and the other woman soon came charging in. The staff hit Catra really hard across the stomach, making her stumble and kneel down before Despara.

Despara cackled as she lifted her staff, which was crackling with electricity, and prepared to plunge it into Catra's back.

Catra dodged it quickly, and jumped onto Despara. "Get off me, you stinking feline!" shouted Despara, but Catra didn't listen. Trying to get at Despara's face, she knocked off her helmet. But before Catra could get a look at her face, Despara took out a blaster and shot Catra with it. Catra fell off Despara, sputtering and bleeding. She needed serious medical attention. Eventually, she fell down into a corner, where Despara walked up to her.

Now, she could see Despara's face clearly. It was unmistakable. Despite the strange black markings on it and the much shorter hair, it was a face Catra knew better than any in the world.

"Adora?"

"Who the hell is Adora?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the Winter Soldier reference. I couldn't resist.


	8. They Are All Monsters Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, here's the next chapter. It basically picks up where the last one leaves off. The chapter after this one will have our first real battle of Rebellion vs. Horde.
> 
> Note: this chapter includes Modulok. He has two heads. Even though he doesn't have many lines here, please notice that when writing him, what the two heads say will be separated by a | (so like this: "Hi | Bye"). Just keep that in mind!

Long ago, many years after the Eternians had arrived on Etheria, a war broke out. One of their own, Lord Marzo, betrayed them and tried to take the full power of the planet for himself. He attained the Staff of Tjamut, which could awaken the ancient god-children of the sea and control them. He used this power to decimate the Eternian forces, even killing one She-Ra, Teela, in the process. Teela's niece Mara was chosen as She-Ra a few days later, but even she couldn't stop him.

It was one day, that, out of pure luck, Marzo put down the staff for a quick stretch. One of his own soldiers then stole the staff from under his nose and murdered him, and then disappeared, never to be seen again. This strange chapter in history has been discussed over and over, with many having varying opinions over why this soldier did not choose to conquer Etheria themselves, or who it even was.

Unfortunately, with no survivors from that time, the trail has gone cold.

* * *

Hordak had landed on Beast Island. He had been there before, quite a long time ago. He had decided then and there that that would be his punishment for betrayal. Horde Prime had once told him anyone who believes there is nothing worse than death is a weak-minded moron, and Beast Island was living proof of that point. It was rancid, full of predatory plants and animals, diseases, and extreme weather.

And it was where Catra had sent Entrapta. Hopefully, by the time he was back, Despara would bring him Catra's head.

He immediately took out a data pad, and used it to detect all living catalogued individuals on the island. There was one. Quakke. The bastard had betrayed Hordak in an intentionally doomed plan because he was curious about Beast Island, and Hordak had happily let him indulge in his wishes, knowing it would be the death of him.

It wasn't the death of him, apparently.

But that wasn't what Hordak was paying attention to. Entrapta was not there. This meant she was dead. Or, she had escaped, which was highly unlikely, for nobody escapes Beast Island.

A tear escaped Hordak's eye. Soon, there were many. And, as he looked up into the sky, he saw the stars had returned. This meant Horde Prime had opened a portal. But he was not happy.

He looked to the stars, and even if he knew that Prime couldn't hear him, he shouted "You! You probably find this really funny, don't you! You're probably laughing at me while you're guzzling your mead! Do you hear me, you fat piece of shit? DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

No response. He didn't expect one.

He took out his comlink and activated it. An image of Despara appeared before him.

"Your wish, my lord?" she asked.

"Have you already killed Catra?"

"No, she had evaded me, my lord. I am currently searching for her."

"Good. My orders have changed. Do not kill her. Simply incapacitate her, and when I return, I will make her suffer before she dies."

Despara smirked "As you wish, my lord."

* * *

Keldor was bored out of his wits. Despara had forbidden him from helping her hunt Catra, since she wanted to find the bothersome feline herself. He groaned. He never knew how boring the Fright Zone could get until now.

Until, of course, he heard the crash.

It came from the east side of the Fright Zone, where a small lake ran. He went to investigate, and saw a badly cobbled-together ship at the edge of the lake, where it was stranded. Two figures stepped outside of it. One, he recognised to be Modulok. The other, from the way she was described to him, was probably Entrapta.

She walked up to him - well, perhaps walked was not the right word, because she moved towards him on her hair. And instead of greeting him or asking him who he is, she simply asked "Where's Hordak?"

He rolled his eyes "Off. Away."

"Where?"

"Beast Island. Looking for you."

"Oh, that's not good. That's not good at all!"

Modulok rolled his eyes. Well, his eyes on one head, at least "Who cares? | Who's in charge of the Fright Zone now?"

"Ah yes. His protege, Despara, has taken over."

He grinned. Perhaps this was his opportunity? Let them tear each other apart? He looked to the two "You'd better steer clear of her. She's hunting down that traitor, Catra. Come, follow me."

The two followed Keldor into the Fright Zone interior.

* * *

Catra was hiding in an air vent. Adora had gone on the warpath for her ever since she tried to get through to her. Except… it wasn't Adora, was it? It was the monster Hordak turned her into.

A monster.

Wasn't that what she was too?

Wasn't she just as bad, if not worse, than Despara?

She had no time to think about this now. Three forms crossed under the vent, and she could clearly see all three of them - Keldor, a bizarre two-headed individual, and… Entrapta?

So that's why Hordak ordered her dead. Because he learned about Entrapta. She should have known.

A few minutes passed after the three escaped from sight when the entire vent she was in came crashing down. She fell down really hard, hit her head and looked up to see Despara, energy staff crackling.

"Hey, Catra." she said with great bloodlust and hatred in her eyes. She lifted her energy staff, slammed down, and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, next chapter is where it kicks off.


	9. The Last Daughters of D'Riluth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter. READ.

Entrapta looked around. She was in Hordak's sanctum. The blue-skinned young man had left Modulok and her there while he went to take care of 'business'. She was rummaging around while the two-headed engineer had a look at the sanctum. Well, perhaps 'looks' is more accurate.

"Ow! | Ow!" the two heads said in tandem. Entrapta looked to where Modulok was, and her face lit up with joy when she saw the robot who had just bumped into Modulok.

"Emily!" she shouted, and ran towards the robot and hugged it tight.

Modulok scoffed "Emily? Seriously? | Couldn't you have named your robot Jane?"

Entrapta looked to Modulok "Why do you care?"

"Oh, I don't. | I was kidding."

"Oh."

"Just do me this favour: | Keep the damn thing away from me."

Entrapta gave Modulok a dirty look "Emily is not a 'thing'! She is a thinking, feeling being, just like us! Sure, she might not be able to talk, but who cares?"

Modulok rolled his right eye on his left head, and his left eye on his right head. It was a strange way of rolling eyes.

Entrapta went back to Emily, and after an hour or so, she heard Keldor's voice.

"Lord Hordak! I thought you were out looking for Entrapta!"

Then she heard Hordak's voice. It sounded tired, unhappy. More than usual. "I was, wasn't I? Yes, I was. It didn't go according to plan." he sighed.

She then heard footsteps approaching the sanctum. Keldor said in a panicked voice: "My lord, I wouldn't recommend-"

Hordak opened the door to his sanctum. He caught sight of Entrapta and Modulok. One word escaped his lips.

"Entrapta."

Keldor ran up to him. "My lord, I can-"

"I will have words with **you** later. Now GET OUT!"

Keldor didn't ask twice and ran off.

Hordak approached Entrapta, knelt down to get to her, and said "Entrapta, I - I - I'm sorry. I am so sorry."

Entrapta looked up to him "Sorry about what?"

"I should have known Catra was lying. I should have known to trust you better than her. Instead, I let my own paranoia take control of me. I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologise for, Hordak. It was Catra's fault. She lied to everyone to get what she wanted."

"And now, I thought you were dead. I - I, well, I was lucky, wasn't I?"

Entrapta smiled. "You're still the same Hordak that I got to know. You never miss an opportunity to make yourself feel like dirt. None of this was your fault."

Hordak looked to her, managing a weak smile.

She giggled "And, I must say, you look quite handsome. I really love the beard!"

Hordak went slightly less pale than he usually was, which she guessed was his version of blushing.

Then, he turned his attention to Modulok "And I see you've brought _him_ along with you."

Modulok managed two weak grins "Come on, man. | It was a little funny."

"No, it was not in the least bit humorous."

Entrapta looked to the both of them and asked "What did he do?"

Hordak looked down to her and simply said "You don't want to know."

Modulok snickered.

Entrapta nodded "Okay. So, where are Catra and Scorpia?"

* * *

Scorpia woke up and got out of bed. It had been a… comfortable night, to say the least. As she got dressed, she looked into her bed, where Lonnie was still sound asleep.

She smiled a wide smile and left the room. There, a young lady walked by her and waved. Scorpia waved back and stood still for a moment. That was Keldor's sister. What was her name? Lindsey? Lindsay? Linzi?

"It's Lindesay."

Scorpia snapped to attention and looked down at the woman. Lindesay shrugged.

"I could tell what you were thinking. You wanted to know how to greet me, because like everyone, you don't remember me."

Scorpia shook her head "Sorry, not that well. Did we ever know each other?"

"Nah, not really. But we have worked together sometimes."

Scorpia nodded. She had no idea how this clumsy, fun, and exuberant woman was the older sister of the scheming, cruel Keldor.

Scorpia then looked down at Lindesay and said "Well, how would you like to join my unit? You could work with Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio, and me. And unfortunately, we have to work with Despara now too."

Lindesay squinted "Despara. Even the name sounds so rotten. There's something weird about her. She came out of nowhere, and is now trying to murder Catra. And whenever I look at her, I can't see what she's thinking. I don't think she has a soul."

Scorpia simply looked down to the floor. Ever since Despara had arrived, she had treated everyone with absolute cruelty. She cared little for the lives of others, which appalled the kind and sympathetic Scorpia.

All of a sudden, this silent contemplation was broken by Mantenna, who had walked up to them to say "Hey, Lord Hordak has called Catra to his sanctum. She's going to be punished or tried or something. I'll save you a seat!"

Scorpia looked to Lindesay.

Lindesay looked to Scorpia.

Both of them ran off to Hordak's sanctum.

* * *

Catra was brought before Hordak by a gleeful Despara. She cackled as she dropped Catra down before the throne. Catra looked around. All the force captains and numerous other Horde soldiers had gathered there.

So this was how it ends, huh?

Hordak got up. He moved towards the terrified Catra. Then he spoke.

"Catra, you have put the fate of the Horde at risk numerous times for your own personal gain. But recently, you have crossed the line. You have betrayed me personally. And therefore, I proclaim you to be…"

Catra closed her eyes.

"...free."

Despara was appalled "WHAT?"

Hordak grinned "Catra, you have my pardon for what you have done. You are free to go, as long as you don't cause me any trouble again."

Catra was relieved, so much that she pinched herself to see if she was awake. "T-thank you, Lord Hordak."

"Oh, don't thank me, thank her."

And who should appear from behind Hordak but Entrapta?

Entrapta smiled "Hiya, Catra! I saved you again!"

Catra's next feelings were a mix of gratitude and guilt. Entrapta had stopped her from meeting an unfortunate fate, even after she had betrayed Entrapta like that. She wanted to go to Entrapta, hug her, thank her, apologise, and do everything that Entrapta would forgive her.

But she didn't get the chance. Hordak shouted "Despara, would you please escort her outside?"

Despara took a deep bow, took Catra by the shoulder, and escorted her outside the sanctum.

When outside, Despara tightly grasped Catra's shoulder, making her yowl, and whispered "If it had been me on that throne, you would have been force-fed your own kidneys"

That statement didn't exactly fill Catra with hope.

* * *

Bow was oh so tired. He was having one of those moments where you just don't know what to do with yourself. His dads kept sending him messages about their runestone shard, but he didn't know what to tell them, because they had a war meeting in a few minutes.

Or, scratch that. Right now. Peekablue walked into his room, and simply said "Hey, Bow. Glimmer told me to get you. We have a… guest."

Bow nodded and followed her.

When he entered the war room, he was surprised to see… Catra?

No, not Catra. This woman was clearly middle-aged, had a different hairdo, was pretty scarred, and had different clothes on. But apart from those huge differences, she looked exactly like Catra.

Glimmer gestated to her "This is Felidhe. She has something to tell us, which can help both her and us."

Felidhe then looked around the room. "Can I start now? Okay, are any of you familiar with D'Riluth?"

Glimmer nodded "Yes, my mother told me about it. It was destroyed?"

"Indeed. But before that, it was a pretty big kingdom. And I happened to be the younger sister of its queen.

But one day, a traitor to the kingdom hired Sir Naglfar and his reavers to sack it. I spent years looking for this traitor - no luck.

But recently, I found out that Queen Leah's daughter, Cyra, my niece, is alive. And I tracked her to the Fright Zone, where she now goes by 'Catra'. If I can get you into the Fright Zone, you will have to ensure her safety."

Glimmer nodded "Of course, of course. But does that mean that Catra…"

"Is a princess? Yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so next chapter we see our familiar Rebels and Hordies face off against each other


	10. So It Begins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a chapter which I had started and halfheartedly finished. Apologies.

Horde Prime looked out of the window of his ship. Outside, he saw Etheria. _Well, it sure has changed_ , he thought. He smiled. He was looking forward to seeing his old home. And of course, burning it in the sweet fires of Ragnarök. He remembered what they had done to it. They had created an abomination that must be destroyed.

Tears slipped through his four eyes as he remembered his old friends. Mara and Razz… he did miss them. But he couldn't let that get in the way of what he set out to do. This planet - the heart - must be destroyed at all costs.

* * *

Bow was getting all of his gadgets ready for an assault on the Fright Zone. He was really tired. Today had been exhausting, and now they had to invade the belly of the beast itself? They should really be concerning themselves with other things, such as the arrival of the huge Horde fleet which had appeared.

He sighed. Also, how did they know the woman who claimed to be Catra's aunt was reliable? For all they knew, she was a spy sent to lure them into a trap.

He sighed again. He had to trust Glimmer's judgement.

But then, he felt something prick him in the neck.

And he fell down unconscious.

* * *

Catra was shivering. It really was cold outside today - not normal for the Fright Zone. She wanted to go inside and thank Entrapta, but she was probably with Hordak and she didn't want to test his patience after that little conundrum, and most of all, she didn't want to run into Despara.

Despara.

What had happened to Adora which turned her into such a monster? Had she been reprogrammed? Resurrected and turned into a zombie? Or was Adora acting of her own accord? A shiver went down her spine. She really hoped it wasn't the last one.

She heard a voice behind her "Hrn. Chilly outside, isn't it?"

Catra gulped. It was Despara's voice. She turned around and asked "What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing. I was heading outside for some fresh air. I hadn't expected to see you here."

Catra sighed. "You-you really don't remember me?"

Despara turned to her, grabbed her neck, and looked at her with a look of disgust "No, I do not. I have no idea who you are beyond your name. And I do not care. All I want you to know is that if you slip up one more time, I will turn you into a carpet."

"That's - that's really racist, actually."

Despara scoffed "Fair point. Also, why would I remember you?"

Tears streamed out of Catra's eyes "Because we grew up together! We were like sisters! And then we - we -"

"Betrayed each other" said Despara, who was only just realizing what was really going on.

Catra nodded.

Despara grunted "Hm." and left. Catra sobbed.

Then, all of a sudden, an explosion at the gates freaked her out. She realized something - the rebellion had attacked! She quickly rushed forward, with a few Horde soldiers rushing in the same direction.

* * *

'Bow' grinned. As his friends started fighting against the Horde soldiers that had come to meet them, he dodged into a corner and activated his communicator."The distraction is ready. You can come out now." he said, grinning.

Then, he - or should I say, they, turned back into their true form and slipped away. This time, Double Trouble turned to a horde soldier to complete the task they had been hired to do.

* * *

And somewhere on a hill across from the Fright Zone, Naglfar got their signal. He smiled a terrible, twisted smile and turned to his reavers.

"Okay then, pals. Ol' snake-face has sent us the signal. The rebellion is distracting the Horde. This is our perfect opportunity to finish what we started so long ago."

And he grinned as he ran towards the Fight Zone.

* * *

Light Hope had just received a signal. It was a bizarre signal which she could not trace accurately, but she knew of what nature it was.

Her eyes narrowed.

"This will prove… complicated."

Because she knew where it was coming from.

Etheria was under greater threat than ever if Evdra had returned.


	11. The Reaver

The Fright Zone alarms were blaring. This signified Scorpia that someone had made it into the interior. The rebel incursion had just occurred, so she found it unlikely that some of them had made it inside, especially in their current state. And of course, she couldn't pinpoint who had set the alarm off, so she decided to sweep the interior of the fright zone.

Eventually, she came to a corridor. From a corner to the south of it, a few people appeared. Their leader was a pale-skinned elf with saurian legs. He looked at Scorpia expectantly.

She shouted "Hey! You're not supposed to be in here!"

He grinned "Ah, but is anyone ever supposed to be anywhere? Or are our current posts simply an illusion forced on us by the establishment?"

"None of whatever you just said! Um, now can you please… leave?"

"Ah, sod diplomacy. Guess we'll have to do this the hard way."

He produced a short blade, and ran towards Scorpia. She tried to stop him, but he was too fast and he stabbed her in the stomach. Immediately, she started to cough. The blade had probably been laced with some sort of poison. Before she knew it, she was on her knees, sputtering. And eventually, she fell to the floor.

The man shrugged and moved on.

Scorpia then heard a voice shout "STOP!"

It was Lonnie. Her lover had come to her rescue.

She then heard the man's voice "Really? Do you really want to fight me?"

A bit of grunting and bumping ensued. Scorpia couldn't move, so she didn't see anything occur.

Eventually, she heard the man say "Now look. Your friend is there, coughing her guts out. I have poisoned her. Unless you want to make her become permanently… incapable of functioning, if you know what I mean, you will get out of my way and tend to her."

"What… I… Damn it!"

Scorpia heard someone leave. Lonnie stood over her and took her pincer.

"Don't worry, Scorpia. I'll get you to the medbay."

Scorpia managed a small nod before falling unconscious.

* * *

Catra rushed towards the Fright Zone entrance. The rebellion had grown far more ruthless without Adora, it seemed, and Catra had been blasted hard in the waist. Despara, her superior officer, had ordered her to retreat, and if she didn't want to die, Catra knew not to defy Despara. She quickly ran into the Fright Zone, and crossed paths with none other than Hordak.

Hordak looked at her and scowled "What is this, force captain? Why are we being attacked?!"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Because whenever something bad happens around here, I FIND YOU RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF IT AND I'M SICK OF IT!'

"Well, this has nothing to do with me. At least I don't think so?"

Hordak grunted. "Well, if you're not going to fight, then you may as well help me."

"Okay…"

"We have picked up a disturbance in the Fright Zone systems. Imp has been knocked unconscious, and the power continuously blacks out. Entrapta and Modulok are leading squads through the place to find whoever's behind it. I have decided that while they are doing that, I will try to fix the system. Your job is to keep watch and make sure none of these intruders tries any funny business while I'm doing it."

Catra quickly nodded.

* * *

Hordak quickly walked through the Fright Zone halls. He needed to find out at what points the power was tampered with - and fix it as soon as possible. Damnation! This sounded like one of those drills Prime had him go through. Not pleasant memories.

Behind him was Catra, who appeared to have been seriously injured. He wondered if he should help her keep up, but then decided against it.

They came to the first disturbance - a few broken cables. A foul smell filled the zone. He held a hand up in a signal to Catra and took a deep breath.

The creature came out of nowhere and landed on him. Hordak quickly kicked it off him, and got a better look. It was a canine humanoid of sorts, and an extremely ugly one at that. Catra immediately pounced on it and attempted to restrain it. But quickly, it broke free, bit her… and was knocked out by a hard punch on the head by Hordak.

* * *

Catra watched as the dog-man slowly woke up. He was tied up by several torn cables to stop him from attacking.

When he woke up, he started barking intensely. It didn't stop until Catra got tired of it and scratched him across the nose. He whimpered but then grinned.

"Who are you?" sounded Hordak's voice.

The dog-man growled. "My name is Tybalt of the Reavers. I have-"

Hordak grunted. "You're a reaver?"

"Yes."

"And what have your disgusting masters tasked you with this time?"

Catra looked to Hordak "What are reavers?"

Hordak quickly responded with "The elite lackeys of the Vor'Shuhn Brotherhood."

"What's the Vor-"

"I'll tell you later. Now we're interrogating this guy."

Tybalt laughed. "We have been tasked with finding the Crucible of Dryl - you have it in your cute little zone. In your sanctum, I believe."

Hordak cupped his face in his hand. "Wait, so there's more of you? And-"

"Yes… my unit's leader, Naglfar, has already made it into your sanctum. This power failure…"

"... was simply a diversion. Gaaah, I'm an idiot!"

Catra breathed in slowly. Naglfar. She was finally going to come face to face with the one who had destroyed her home. She would no doubt discover new answers and questions.

Catra was, for the first time, not trying to hide her fear. A tear rolled down her face. It was now.

Her quest was about to near its end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soso! The plot moves on. Stay tuned, I'm going back to working on this in full swing!


	12. Naglfar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Chapter 12. We'll be truly introduced to Naglfar this time.

With a single sparkle blast, Glimmer smashed the nearby attacking horde bot to smithereens. She laughed heartily. As much as it pained her to admit it, she enjoyed these battles.

Where had Bow gone, though? She decided that she had better things to think about for now at least.

All of a sudden, the bots cleared to reveal a tall female Horde captain. She was dressed head to toe in armour and wore a helmet which resembled Hordak's face. She carried an energy staff which seemed to crackle with delight in the pain it would cause its victims. Glimmer had never seen her before.

"You fight well, princess." said the captain "but can you stand against the Horde's supreme commander? Can you stand against Despara?"

That voice. Glimmer recognized it. Where? She had no idea. She also had no time to think about it for now. She teleported behind her foe - whose name was apparently Despara -

And was hit by an energy blast mid-teleport.

How…

She heard Despara's voice again "Witness now the demise of a hero and the triumph of a monster."

"Wow, you're **really** corny, aren't you?"

And with that, Glimmer charged into battle. However, this time, Despara hit her really hard with the energy staff, then cackled.

"Your fight is in vain, you incompetent ninny. Surrender now, and I shall make your death short and painless. Well… I can't guarantee it'll be painless, but definitely short."

"Sorry, no can do!"

Glimmer was hit by another energy blast, which knocked her out.

* * *

Catra and Hordak walked into the sanctum. Immediately as they walked in, two sleek forms jumped out in front of them. One of them Catra recognized from her dream - Naglfar, the man who had robbed her of her childhood. The other was a humanoid female.

Naglfar spoke.

"Hordak. It's been a long time. And Princess Cyra! What a surprise. Glad we could meet after all these years."

Catra stammered "Princess? I-"

But she was cut off by Hordak "I should have known the destruction of D'Riluth was a Vor'Shuhn plot. I should have known my attack on you and your little band of terrorists was just one of your games. Why have you come here? Speak!"

Naglfar grinned "Why… for her, of course! That day, every last feline in D'Riluth died by my hand. Except for her and one other. I do not know where the other is. So I will have to settle for her."

Catra growled "So, why did you destroy D'Riluth? And what's this about me being a princess?"

"I destroyed D'Riluth for reasons beyond your understanding. The rat who let me in believed I did it for their money… they were wrong. But you will not live to find out. And 'princess' is the correct title - for you are the daughter of Queen Leah and King Tigrus. Too bad you never got to ascend. Oh well."

He signalled to the woman. "Take care of our cybernetic friend here. The catgirl is mine."

It went so fast that Catra never got to think. Naglfar rammed her, took her by the head, and slammed her onto the ground. He then pulled out two scimitars, one which he stabbed her really hard in the hand with. Catra yowled in pain.

She heard him chuckle "Disappointing. I was hoping for a climactic battle. I do believe I've fought rain puddles stronger than you."

Catra couldn't think of any sly comebacks, so she jumped up and tried to strike him, but he kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her flying back. He then jumped on her, biting her neck with his razor-sharp fangs, and then slammed her onto the ground once again.

"Hrn. You know, I find it far more entertaining to slowly bleed my opponent out instead of simply finishing them off."

Breathing heavily, Catra mouthed the word "bastard".

"Oh, I'll admit it isn't the most efficient approach. But are we not having fun?"

Catra got up and growled, for the first time taking Naglfar by surprise. She slashed him on the throat, drawing a slight bit of blood.

"Ooh, that was a good strike! I must say I didn't expect that. How do you like mine?"  
A blade rammed through Catra's chest. She collapsed, breathing heavily.

Naglfar cackled "Ah, that looks like it hurt. Poor child. But think of it this way! When one has had a life so generously fucked up as yours, is it not sweet to be released by death?"

Catra growled, but it was too much. She slowly collapsed and fell unconscious.

* * *

A hard, painful kick landed in Hordak's face as Morrigan, the reaver, attacked him. He fired a small arm cannon blast in her direction, which caused her to duck and charge him. She instantly jumped on him, causing him to lose balance and blast everywhere.

He tried to shake her off, but she was latched on. So he reached behind his back and took ahold of her arm, and pulled it. She screamed and let go for a while, giving him the opportunity to shake her off and punch her.

She responded with an uppercut to his chin, then jumped onto his chest and removed the data crystal in his armour, cackling gleefully.

As he was about to collapse from dizziness, he fired a blast from his arm cannon, hitting her right in the leg. Hordak fell down and took a deep breath. Morrigan fell down flat and started breathing uncontrollably.

Hordak looked over to Catra. Not good. Naglfar had downed her, and as far as he knew, she was dead. He trained his arm cannon on the reaver, which fired a blast across the sanctum, which Naglfar dodged just in time.

"Hordak, Hordak, Hordak. So long you tried to undermine the will of my masters. Little did you know you were only serving their purposes."

Hordak snarled.

Naglfar cackled "Anger will get you nowhere now. Your pet kitten has seen her last dawn, and you? Well, I shall not kill you. You will continue your miserable journey through this world. The Vor'Shuhn do believe you can be useful…"

Hordak growled "Sharks will fly on the day I become a henchman of the Vor'Shuhn brotherhood!"

Naglfar grinned "They have their ways."

Hordak grunted and shouted "Catra?!"

Catra stirred but then stopped. Naglfar kicked him in the chest. Hordak took a deep breath.

"Do not test my patience, fallen child. I will not kill you, but I can do far worse."

Hordak growled, pulled his leg back, and kicked Naglfar on the knee. He then got up, and held onto Naglfar's head, and pulled him down…

And then collapsed. Naglfar kicked him across the room, where he was now lying next to Catra's limp, unconscious body.

"That admittedly hurt." Naglfar said under his breath. "But you should have known that a frail being such as yourself could not overpower me."

Hordak slammed his fist against the ground and got up on his hands and knees, slowly trying to get up, but he was slammed to the ground by Naglfar again. This time, he landed _on_ Catra, who groaned unpleasantly.

Naglfar looked to him inquisitively "Why do you persist? What drives you? Can you not see your endeavors are hopeless?"

"Gaah… you dirty son of a bitch…"

"So are we stooping to insults now? Very well. It does not matter too much. But man, you look done. How about having a nice rest on the floor? When you wake up, I'll be gone, and kitty here will be nothing but a bloody mess. Come on, old friend. Don't pretend you like her."

"Go fuck yourself, you revolting bastard. LEAVE!"

"Leave? But we were in the middle of a civilized conversation! I-"

Naglfar was cut off by a blast which sent him flying across the sanctum. He landed in a heap near the throne, where he struggled to get up.

Hordak looked to the door. It was Entrapta, with a state-of-the-art Horde machine gun.

"C'mon!" She shouted, running towards him and helping him up.

Then, she hugged him.

Hordak looked down to Entrapta.

Entrapta looked up at Hordak.

Their faces moved closer together.

Their lips met.

The kiss was only a minute long, but it felt like a thousand years.

Once they had broken from it, Hordak looked down to Entrapta and started "Entrapta, I-"

"I love you too. Unfortunately, we need to run now!"

"Wait - I will not leave Catra at his mercy. I am not strong enough. Can you carry her?"

Entrapta scooped Catra up with two hair tendrils. Hordak picked up his crystal, fit it back into his armour, and ran out of the sanctum.

* * *

Naglfar got back up and snarled. He had not anticipated the attack of that weird purple-haired woman. Now, his prey was gone, too.

He exited the sanctum. He would find her, and she would die by his hand. He would complete his task, no matter the cost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was a mouthful. Either way, the next chapter will be about Catra and Hordak's worlds turning upside down on them. Stay tuned!
> 
> I'm having fun writing these again!


	13. Turning Points

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the latest chapter! Things will get less messy from here on out, at least I hope they will.

Entrapta quickly ran, holding Catra in her strong hair tendrils. Hordak was following close behind.

She heard his voice "Where are we going?"

She responded with "To the hangar! That way, we can get out of this place!"

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Hordak, I- I'll explain later, when we're there! For now, It's not long until General Psycho over there catches up with us!"

And indeed, Naglfar was very close behind them, and despite the painful blast of the machine gun, he quickly bounded towards them like a wild animal.

Hordak looked behind them and fired an arm cannon blast. Naglfar saw it coming and dodged it, then roared "You have sealed your fate!"

They continued running.

"There is no use in running, you miscreants!"

Soon, they came to the door of the hangar. Hordak quickly put in the code, both of them dashed behind it, and quickly closed it.

Naglfar, on the other side of the door, growled and punched into it. Entrapta breathed a deep sigh of relief.

But there was someone on the other side, too…

A middle-aged cat woman who strongly resembled Catra was there. Hordak got up and narrowed his eyes.

"Felidhe" he finally said.

Felidhe nodded "Hordak. I see you've run afoul of Naglfar."

Hordak grunted angrily. "And why are you here?"

"I'm here to take my niece off your hands. And no, you can't negotiate that."

Hordak snorted "You might not realize, but she is unconscious. And what do you plan to do with her, anyway?"

"I plan to take her on a barge and tell her the truth. We can find what's left of our people. We can… rebuild."

"And what makes you think I would trust you, of all people? How do you think she will feel when she wakes up with a complete stranger claiming to be her aunt?"

Entrapta took him by the arm. "Look, Hordak. As much as I hate to say it, Felidhe is right. If Catra goes with her, Naglfar will have less of a chance of finding her."

"What? If he sees one of her k- gaaah, he'll follow them and kill them!"

Felidhe grunted "You make light of my skills."

Hordak scowled "Fat lot of good your 'skills' did your family and friends when Naglfar came for them last time.

"Oh, and I suppose you'll do much better? The guy is stronger, faster, and I dare say, smarter than the two of you."

"You will get her killed. And everything you just spoke of applies to you, too."

Felidhe snarled at Hordak and scooped Catra up.

Hordak sighed in defeat and said "She is wounded. The wound is stabilized, as far as I believe, but if Naglfar finds you, he _will_ finish the job - and that means both of you. If you miscalculate, it means the extinction of your entire race. Do you understand?"

"I'm not an idiot, Hordak. I'm taking her with me."

"So be it."

* * *

Felidhe had boarded the barge and driven off. Hordak turned to Entrapta.

"So. The rebellion has attacked our base. A psychotic cultist is stalking our halls. Horde Prime has arrived. Where do we go?"

"Bright Moon."

"What? They'll hang us there! And how am I supposed to explain Despara?"

"What about Despara?!"

"Sigh… she's Adora, just reconditioned."

"You… you brainwashed her?"

"Not entirely. You see, Keldor's weapon was laced with some pretty high-tech shit. When he 'killed' her, he not only shut down her body functions, but fried her brain, too. So no, before you ask, were her mind intact, I would have healed her and interrogated her. Instead, it had gone blank. _Tabula Rasa_. Therefore, I, erm, filled the blank slate. And it was convenient, too - Catra was always far too unstable, Keldor too ambitious, and Octavia too repulsive. I needed a loyal, powerful soldier. She was, for lack of a better word, an experiment."

"Hordak, that's terrible of you! But also fascinating! Is… is there any way you can recover her memories?"

"I do not know. On the off-chance that the rebels will accept us, I will work on it. But for now, it's best to assume that Adora is gone. For good. I cannot pretend to show excessive amounts of remorse for this… perhaps that will change. But if you believe that the rebels are our best shot, then by all means, I go where you go."

"Hordak, if you're happy here, then I'll stay with you. That was just a recommendation."

"I… I… I go where you go. With you, I have finally realized that I do not need to reunite with Horde Prime to be happy. If you are leaving for Bright Moon, I shall go with you."

Entrapta quickly nodded and boarded a skiff. Hordak followed her, and they dashed off.

Little did they know they were being watched by someone entirely different...

* * *

Glimmer quickly got up and tried to regain balance. She looked up to see Despara dashing towards her, energy staff brimming. But this time, Glimmer was ready, and she dodged the next blast.

"You are indeed a formidable foe, princess. Striking you down will do me great honour." Despara bowed.

Taking this moment of being off guard as an advantage, Glimmer teleported in Despara's direction and punched her full force in the helmet.

Despara's helmet started buzzing with electricity. She screamed, and removed it, throwing it to the ground.

Glimmer could swear her heart had stopped beating in that moment.

"Adora?"

"I do not know that name, as I have said many times. And now, you will die."

Glimmer was lost for words. It was Adora. She had bizarre markings on her face, and her hair was cut incredibly short, but it was Adora. Her friend. Who she thought was dead.

Glimmer was hit by the energy staff. She fell to the floor.

She still had enough energy to get back up, and she took out her communicator. With it, she reached the entire rebellion force and yelled "Everyone retreat!" into it.

No matter how much she hated the Horde, Glimmer would not fight Adora. She couldn't. She was much too confused and shocked now.

And she ran. She saw the nearby rebellion soldiers doing the same, as they all boarded transports and dashed away. It was over.

* * *

Despara watched as the cowardly rebels retreated. She was very disappointed - she had wanted to test her skills against the princess.

She slowly returned to the Fright Zone. At the entrance she was heading to, stood Keldor.

"Keldor. Where were you during the battle?"

"Oh, I was investigating something. As it turns out, Hordak and Catra have abandoned us, and perhaps even betrayed us."  
"Impossible."

"Is it? Catra was always treasonous. And Hordak was not the same ever since that Entrapta woman came into the picture."

Despara grunted. "If that is truly the case, then the Horde will need a new leader. We already know that Horde Prime has arrived, but until he takes the time to address us, I shall lead the Horde, and you shall be my second."

Keldor grinned. At last…

* * *

Meanwhile, Naglfar watched as a barge left the Fright Zone, followed by a skiff. He decided that he would wait for now, for patience was very important for a hunter like him.

In the meantime, he had a spy in the Fright Zone - Double Trouble - who would inform him what the Horde was up to.

He may have failed this mission, but he was not going to let Catra go this soon.

* * *

And somewhere, on the far edge of Etheria, a strange crystalline being awakened.

She remembered. She remembered her name. She remembered that her name was Evdra.

The taint of Eternia still reeked on this planet. Her work was not done.

She would fix this.

But she felt something else. An enemy far more ancient than the colonists of Eternia or the conquerors of the Horde.

Vor'Shuhn.

The great beast.

He had returned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What happens next?
> 
> Next chapter: Horde Prime arrives!


End file.
